Welding Course Prices

[crazyal]

A good friend has two schools (one here and one in Wisconsin) dedicated to just teaching welding. I worked for him doing non-destructive testing. So his approach is to teach how to weld along with knowing what a good weld (and bad weld) is by doing both non destructive and destructive testing. But he focuses on producing welders who want to become certified welders. I never thought to ask about if he had thought about teaching for the guy who had no plans to take it up as a career. Most of his schooling is hands on with some teaching code and techniques in a classroom.

 

[IslandTractor]

I took two evening welding classes at a local vocational high school. Most of the "students" were old farts like myself. One course covered stick and tig and the other was on mig and oxyfuel. Each was about 12 weeks of two and a half hour sessions. Each session started with a brief lecture and then welding exercises. The instructor was a very experienced ironworker/welder but he wasn't much of a lecturer. Very helpful on the practicum though. I recall paying about $450 per course which included all materials and welding equipment. I found I enjoyed the oxyfuel and TIG best followed by MIG and stick. I never did make a really good looking stick weld.

Wish I'd never used the school's Miller 350. Pulse spray transfer MIG absolutely spoiled me. Wish I could afford one.

 

[dstig1]

I took the evening welding class here at what was then called St. Paul Technical College (they changed the name to something more generic later). Most of their classes were aimed at people looking to weld for a career or as part of one, so they were all day-time classes. They had one evening class - ~4hrs once a week on Thurs, IIRC. I took it 25 yrs ago and then again about 8-10 yrs ago. It was in the $300-400 range both times, including fees and basic supplies. I brought my own auto dark helmet. It had a mix of students. A few folks like me looking to learn for hobby/home use, some young kids who apparently didn't have the time or something to take the day classes, and a few guys who were working and wanted to learn and/or improve their welding skills for their job. That last group and the hobby guys like me were the ones who took it seriously. Many of the kiddies didn't show up or were late a lot. I would think instructors would like those 2 groups as they want to learn and care about it. If you are trying to influence someone to start a "hobbyist" class that might be a good point to make to help sway them. This class said it was "stick only" but a lot depended on the teacher. My second time the guy was really good and wanted to expose us to a variety of things. Still it was 80% stick, and as many of you know, if you learn stick, the rest is not so hard. But for whatever reason, I still can't do MIG vertical up, even though I passed bends tests with 6010 vert up in the class...