Don't borrow money for school...it can hurt you and those close to you...

[dfrecore]

I checked out the Missouri Welding Institute. Training is 40 hours per week for 11- 18 weeks depending on which program you choose. If you're a young person living with your parents, then you can probably afford to not work or only work part-time. If Missouri has grants to cover this type of training, then that's great. Otherwise, this program doesn't qualify for Title IV funding. They actually direct students to Sallie Mae for loans. While $11,625 or $14,000 in student loans is not a lot in the long-term (it's still expensive for a program that is less than 6 months), it's cheaper for someone who qualifies for the Pell Grant to go to a community college for two years and a public university for another two years. If they wanted to go to a public university all four years, they would come out with about the same amount of student loans, except they would be federally-backed.

Yes, we have some welding programs here that are expensive as well. I think most of them are many thousands of dollars, but you get it quickly (as quickly as they're allowed to teach it). They are full-time, and you're done in about 6 months. Maybe $15k.

If you wanted to do it more cheaply though, our local CC offers it for closer to $700 in 2 semesters for basic skills, and another $800 (a total of $1500) in about 4 semesters for more advanced skills (takes longer because some courses build on each other). Obviously it's entry-level skills. But it certainly lets you do some courses and then figure out if you want to do this for a living before spending $15k. If you decide yes, you can then go on to take more advanced courses, saving the time and cost of the lower level courses.

And, if you qualify for Pell grants, then it's free for those 2-4 semesters. You just have to be willing to take more time to accomplish your goals.