Welding Course Prices

[Big Barn]

There is much mention of the value of taking beginner welding courses at Community Colleges. I've attached a photo/ad of what's available in MY area. $795 for 30 hours for any ONE of three processes.

I've never taken one as I dont "do well" in classroom environments.*

* True story: I couldn't even make it through a wine appreciation course. Too much theory and not ' nuff drinking.

Just wondering what prices are like in YOUR areas.



Terry

 

[treefarmerguy]

I just signed up for a mig/tig course at our local regional tech school.
A 30 hr course is $440. I have taken welding before and have always been satisfied with the facility and teacher.

 

[D2Cat]

The local HS shop teacher offered classes. One night a week for 2hrs for 12 weeks, I think. I can't remember exact cost, but it was like buy one book, and $50.

No college credit was offered, it was high school teacher, but very good welding instructor.

 

[Inspector507]

I also took a couple of welding courses offered at the local high school tech center. If I remember correctly each night was 2 hours, 1 hour classroom and 1 hour hands on. Each course was around $120. I took 2 mig classes and 2 stick. The instructor had worked at Galion making excavators. Excellent hands on training with quality equipment. His HS students placed 1st or 2nd in state competitions for many years.

 

[Texasmark]

There is much mention of the value of taking beginner welding courses at Community Colleges. I've attached a photo/ad of what's available in MY area. $795 for 30 hours for any ONE of three processes.

I've never taken one as I dont "do well" in classroom environments.*

* True story: I couldn't even make it through a wine appreciation course. Too much theory and not ' nuff drinking.

Just wondering what prices are like in YOUR areas.

View attachment 494186

Terry

Save yourself a ton of money and go to a Jr. College and purchase the text book used in the class; buying used will save more money. Get a welder and some scrap and get after it.

 

[Big Barn]

Save yourself a ton of money and go to a Jr. College and purchase the text book used in the class; buying used will save more money. Get a welder and some scrap and get after it.

Good idea!

 

[Will S]

Around here, the community college welding courses price is from $800 to about $1200, for one process, based upon whether you are taking a basic or an advanced; (completion of basic is required before taking advanded).

 

[sixdogs]

That sees pretty pricey. I went to an evening tech school for $400 or so and that included materials. BUT, on the first night I learned more than in the prior five years on my own. One of the best things I ever did.

 

[yomax4]

Schools are surely beneficial. No question. A great place to start prior to classes is simply to go to your LWS or several in your area. They will let you run mig, tig and or stick in their demo room. They can get you started and explain a few things. They nearly always let you make arc's and sparks as long as you want to. Then find out when any or all of the LWS's plan to have an open house or customer appreciation day. Go to as many as you can and you will have the Manufacturer's there and they will take you to the next level on all the processes. Now you become dangerous and a better student at the school IF you decide you want to go that route. If not? you will have ran the machines and made some decisions on the type of welding that appeals to you. Maybe you will be ready for your own entry level machine to take home and hone your skills. Welding in it's self is not rocket science. It's when to do what and how. A lot of that you can obviously find on here and other welding forums. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of school, I'm just saying that you may want to wet your whistle with some welding before you get there. That way if you do go, You won't be a total Green Horn in class. I was fortunate enough to get a free ride through the Hobart Institute and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't beneficial but the schools ( in my opinion ) start at a higher level than Zero experience. Good Luck !!

 

[BeezFun]

I took the first two semesters of the welding program at our local community college. First semester was gas and stick, second semester was mig and tig. The classes meet 5 hours a week for 16 weeks, cost was $500 for each one. I found it a really fast way to learn because the instructor was right there to tell me what I was doing wrong. It was also nice because they had a large variety of machines and they made us rotate through and use them all, so I was able to make a decision on what to buy for myself.

 

[D2Cat]

We've heard this saying since we were able to hear, "Practice makes perfect". Not necessarily true.

Perfect practice makes perfect. Practice makes permanent.

You practice something wrong, and you get real good at doing it wrong. Learn to do it right the first time. Don't try to do something and then later have to "unlearn" what you thought was OK.

Find someone who can teach you the correct way to weld.

 

[kydick]

i also took a 6 week course 1 night a week at the local high school 20 some years ago. always thought i might like doing that kind of work. he taught us some of the basics to get us started. i farm and always needing repairs every now and then. i used to take broken parts to local welding shop. sometimes might not take 10 minutes to weld it but have to wait 30 minutes or more to get it welded. lots of time i can take it off weld it and put it back on what time i would be on the road. the amish moved in a few years latter and i did a lot of welding for them. i learned a lot doing that. so i would say if your high school offers something like this that would be a good start. if you like it then you can always go on for more advanced courses. you got to do a lot of hands on to learn anyhow.

 

[IXLR8]

I have been looking into this locally, my only welding experience is self taught OA. I have a Maxtor 150 and I want to learn to use it correctly. I don't want to develop bad habits that I will have to unlearn later. Here is what my local Community College charges, Stick- 18 hr $155, Mig I 36 hr $340, Mig II 36 hr $340, Tig 36 hr $340. They require taking either the Stick or Mig I class before taking the Tig class.

 

[Arc weld]

Sadly not a lot of welding supplies have demo rooms anymore but Lincoln or Miller may have a demo room set up where you can try out machines. Lincoln used to have a separate tech center here where you could try out almost any machine including the engine drives and all the Lincoln consumables but they closed these down and then Lincoln lowered their prices. The biggest problem I've seen with Lincoln is they are 100% biased and nobody else makes anything good. Had a Lincoln rep. try to tell me the old transformer TIG welders like the Idealarc Tig 300/300 were just like the newer inverters and didn't need continuous high frequency on aluminum. He was adamant that even when switched on continuous high frequency, it shut off after you started welding. After that it wasn't really worth listening to anything else he had to say. Lincoln does have some smart people though.

As far as getting books on welding, there's nothing wrong with that but welding isn't something you can learn how to do out of a book. You have to make sparks. Try put an add in a paper seeing if a licensed rig welder may be willing to teach you some basics. With the economy the way it is, might be a few interested if you gave them a couple hundred bucks.

 

[MossRoad]

IVY Tech in Indiana is about $135 per credit hour. So $405 for a 3 credit hour class, plus technology fees, etc...

Industrial Technology - Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana

 

[dragoneggs]

Yeah it's definitely not cheap around here either. With the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard next door, the local community colleges have very good accredited course curriculums with many different courses. Not much... or I should say... too much for the DIYer.

 

[aarolar]

We've heard this saying since we were able to hear, "Practice makes perfect". Not necessarily true.

Perfect practice makes perfect. Practice makes permanent.

You practice something wrong, and you get real good at doing it wrong. Learn to do it right the first time. Don't try to do something and then later have to "unlearn" what you thought was OK.

Find someone who can teach you the correct way to weld.

What he said, we need a like button so bad...

 

[Captain Dirty]

There is much mention of the value of taking beginner welding courses . . . Just wondering what prices are like in YOUR areas.

Local (suburban Boston) Vo-Tech High School Adult Evening offering (Spring 2017):

Basic Welding 6:00 to 8:45, 10 weeks......$225 + $75 lab fee
This course is designed to give students an introduction to basic
welding theory, techniques and practices. Oy-fuel, SMAW (stick)
and GMAW (mig) will be covered. Fabrication is not covered in this
class. Students must supply their own helmet, gloves and safety glasses.​

My $0.02: Definitely worth it. Greatest benefit was feedback from an experienced instructor, something I cannot extract from a book and something that is of value as others have commented. The approx. 3.5 hours of practice time (1.75 x 10 x 20% "duty cycle" barely scratched the surface. If you do not have your own equipment, beg, borrow, or rent (beer for your buddy) equipment and practice, practice, practice. The greatest shortcoming of DIY weldors is lack of "stick time".

 

[MossRoad]

Local (suburban Boston) Vo-Tech High School Adult Evening offering (Spring 2017):

Basic Welding 6:00 to 8:45, 10 weeks......$225 + $75 lab fee
This course is designed to give students an introduction to basic
welding theory, techniques and practices. Oy-fuel, SMAW (stick)
and GMAW (mig) will be covered. Fabrication is not covered in this
class. Students must supply their own helmet, gloves and safety glasses.​

My $0.02: Definitely worth it. Greatest benefit was feedback from an experienced instructor, something I cannot extract from a book and something that is of value as others have commented. The approx. 3.5 hours of practice time (1.75 x 10 x 20% "duty cycle" barely scratched the surface. If you do not have your own equipment, beg, borrow, or rent (beer for your buddy) equipment and practice, practice, practice. The greatest shortcoming of DIY weldors is lack of "stick time".

That's a pretty good price. :thumbsup:

 

[sixdogs]

I just checked my local tech school so I could take the class again, because it was so helpful, and was shocked to learn they dropped it. Good grief; I live on the flat ground of the Midwest where welding is a fact of life and the class has been oversubscribed for years. Beats me.

Moral of the story is to take the class when you see it since the opportunity may prove fleeting. A tech school welding class taught me more in a few nights than many years of screwing around on my own. I can now weld on an advanced beginner level or beginning intermediate level for most things that are in position and am thrilled by it and owe a lot to the tech school welding class.


A tip of the hat to ShieldArc, and others as well for the advice offered over the years.