It all depends on what the attitude that a person has for going into pro cuddling and what they expect. Sometimes, a person with 0 training can still do a great job and ask for top dollars depending what she undersatands and expects from doing this kind of work.
From my experience it's a mixed bag. Some do a great job, enjoy what they are doing and understnad what they are supposed to do. Others don't. Those who are in it primarily to make money are not as good and usually don't last very long. Experience in other fields helps as well.
I see "professional" as a title a for those that get paid for a service. This title has nothing to do with quality of that service.
And nothing quite breaks your heart of what a degree can do than going through college and earning one for yourself. It really is just a piece of paper that shows you can, kinda maybe mostly, show up somewhere, for a small portion of your life. Sees get Degrees.
While yes, I have met some "professional cuddlers" that my money and time would have been better spent elsewhere... But it's like that with all kinds of services I have paid for. I don't think locking a profession behind certifications and training would help... Infact would limit the amount of choice clients have to find good ones.
As others have mentioned music and art...I'd like to add software... The open source world has expanded the community many times over and is very welcoming. Many non-professionals or formally educated have contributed to lots of great things
As in a lot of professions, when stuff goes right, the training and experience of the pro won't appear to have mattered that much. They did their job, and did it well! Where a pro's skill really shines is how stuff gets handled during those times where something goes wrong - say, when a client gets triggered or has an emotional release after something which happens in a session with a cuddle pro. Formal training may or may not matter, but experience almost certainly does.
IMO training and experience are not particularly relevant in this vocation. This just isn't a profession that requires a large body of knowledge. I've had great cuddles with people who were brand new.
Actually I'm pretty skeptical of training and certification for cuddlers.
Of course there are some necessary attributes in a cuddler, notably: 1. reasonable communication and admin abilities - responsive to messages, doesn't give clients the run-around when trying to book sessions, shows up to appointments close to the scheduled time. 2. comfortable being physically close to clients, carrying her half of a conversation, and feeling empathy for clients.
Many, many pro cuddlers fall short on one or both of these simple criteria and somehow feel entitled to charge $100, $150, or even $200+ per hour of their time, which is pretty outrageous, and in that sense I agree with OP.
Nowadays I'm pretty ruthless regarding the first criterion. If after some communication with a cuddler on the site, I feel scheduling a session with her is just too much of a hassle (often because it takes her a week or more to reply to each message, and then she doesn't even answer the questions I asked), I just block her. I no longer have any patience for these types of people.