Ivy Tech Welding Classes: Cost, Options & Career Paths

You type “Ivy Tech welding classes” into your phone expecting to see a Welding Technology degree, and instead find a technical certificate buried inside Industrial Technology, four AWS course-based credentials, and a short-term Structural Welding certificate. That confusion is exactly why this guide exists: here is what each option actually is, what it costs (and how to get it free), and which one moves you toward a paycheck fastest.

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Ivy Tech Welding Classes: What You Are Actually Signing Up For

Here is where it gets confusing, and you are not the only one. You type “Ivy Tech welding classes” into your phone expecting a welding program page, and what you land on is a program called Industrial Technology. Welding shows up there, but as one item in a longer list of shop-floor skills, with the actual certificates tucked behind tabs further down the page. So you spend an evening looking for a “Welding Technology” degree that does not actually exist as a standalone program at Ivy Tech.

That is a search-result problem, not a school problem. Ivy Tech’s public All Academic Programs list for the School of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Science includes Industrial Technology, Machine Tool Technology, Manufacturing Production & Operations and other manufacturing offerings, but no separate welding degree program. Welding is not missing from the school. It is structured differently than most people expect, and once you understand the structure the whole thing gets much easier to navigate.

Why welding sits inside Industrial Technology

The Industrial Technology program page describes courses on job-specific topics “ranging from welding to fluid power systems,” and lists “welding techniques (for applicable credentials)” among the skills taught. Read that last phrase carefully, because it is the key to the whole program: welding is taught where it fits the credential you are actually pursuing, not as one blanket course for everyone. Industrial Technology is the department, and the welding credentials are the specific things you can enroll in inside it.

Three credential types, in plain English

Ivy Tech awards three different kinds of credentials, and the difference decides how much the credential is worth to an employer and to a future transfer school.

• Short-term certificate (CT). A focused, smaller award built around one job. Fewer credit hours, fewer semesters, and it can usually be stacked into a longer credential later.
• Technical certificate (TC). The longer, career-ready award at Ivy Tech, typically 30 or more credit hours across multiple semesters, with hands-on lab time built in.
• Associate of Applied Science (AAS). The two-year degree, built from the same technical courses and general education requirements.

Why this matters: credit hours inside a CT or TC are real college credit. They count toward the AAS in Industrial Technology, they transfer to other institutions far more easily than a training certificate from a private school, and they are the kind of thing financial aid and employers understand. A short-term certificate is a fast on-ramp. A technical certificate is a job-ready credential with a stackable path. The AAS is what you put on a resume when you want a wage floor and room to move up.

The four families of welding options you can actually enroll in

1. The Welding Technology technical certificate — the full-depth option, covering SMAW, MIG and TIG plus technical math, with a targeted elective in pipe welding, welding fabrication or blueprint reading.
2. The Structural Welding short-term certificate — a smaller, faster credential aimed at structural and fabrication work.
3. Four course-based AWS workforce certifications — AWS Pipe Welding II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding II, Gas Metal MIG II, and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding II, each a single course mapped to an entry-level career.
4. The OSHA 10-Hour credential — a safety credential, useful alongside the rest but not a welding qualification on its own.

Those four are the whole menu. Everything else you will read about, from a 12-weekaluminium welding course to a private aerospace welding school, is a different institution entirely.

Where Industrial Technology graduates end up

Ivy Tech lists its Industrial Technology career options as automation specialist, process technician, general maintenance technician, quality specialist, and welder/fabricator. Welding is one destination on that list, and it is often the one that pays quickest, because you can enter it with a short-term certificate while the rest of the degree happens later if you want it.

The rest of this guide walks through each credential with real credit counts, hours, and published prices, then covers what you actually learn at the bench, howNext Level Jobs can pay your tuition, which industry certifications employers actually ask for, what the welding job market looks like right now, and a step-by-step plan you can start this week. Here is the short version of who each option suits.

The Welding Credentials at Ivy Tech, Compared Side by Side

Here is the part that trips people up. The Ivy Tech Industrial Technology program page does not list one welding program. It lists five distinct welding-related credentials, each with its own credit count, own schedule, own price and own map of Indiana campuses, plus a degree that can absorb all of them. Here is what each one actually is, using the numbers Ivy Tech publishes.

Welding Technology technical certificate: 34 credit hours

This is the deepest welding option on the page. It runs 34 credit hours over three semesters and carries a listed cost of $6,065. The coursework covers SMAW (stick), MIG and TIG, adds technical math, and then asks you to pick a targeted elective: pipe welding, welding fabrication or blueprint reading. That elective choice is the fork in the road, and it is worth deciding before you register.

It is listed as offered at 20 Indiana locations, including Anderson, Bloomington, Columbus, Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lake County at East Chicago, Lawrenceburg, Logansport, Madison, Marion, Muncie, Richmond, Sellersburg, South Bend, Terre Haute and Valparaiso.

Structural Welding short-term certificate: 21 credit hours

The middle path. It takes 21 credit hours across two semesters, is listed at $3,746, and shows up at 22 Indiana locations (two more than the technical certificate). The focus is welding fundamentals across SMAW, MIG and TIG, which makes it the shortest sensible on-ramp for someone who wants real shop hours without the full technical certificate commitment.

The four AWS workforce certifications: 6 credit hours each

These are the process-specific credentials, and they are the cheapest meaningful way into welding at Ivy Tech. Each one is 6 credit hours, typically finished inside a single 16-week semester, offered at 19 Indiana locations and listed at $1,070 each:

• AWS Pipe Welding II – entry-level pipe welding and fabrication
• AWS Shielded Metal ARC Welding II – entry-level SMAW, the process most structural and field shops still run. Our guide to why SMAW still wins explains the process for anyone curious what the course is teaching.
• AWS Gas Metal MIG II – entry-level GMAW, the production and sheet metal workhorse. Aluminum MIG welding explained is a good example of the kind of material you will meet in lab.
• AWS Gas Tungsten Arc Welding II – entry-level GTAW, the thin, precise, stainless and aluminum process

Each is mapped on the program page to a specific entry-level welding or fabrication career, which matters later when you are filling out applications or talking to a local shop about what you can do on day one.

OSHA 10-Hour credential: 3 credit hours

The smallest item on the page: 3 credit hours, half a semester, 22 locations, listed at $535. It is a safety credential, not a welding credential. It is worth taking alongside another option because employers notice it and because it is quick.

Credential	Credits	Length	Locations	Listed cost
Welding Technology technical certificate	34	3 semesters	20	$6,065
Structural Welding short-term certificate	21	2 semesters	22	$3,746
AWS Pipe Welding II	6	1 semester	19	$1,070
AWS Shielded Metal ARC Welding II	6	1 semester	19	$1,070
AWS Gas Metal MIG II	6	1 semester	19	$1,070
AWS Gas Tungsten Arc Welding II	6	1 semester	19	$1,070
OSHA 10-Hour credential	3	0.5 semester	22	$535
AAS in Industrial Technology (stack target)	60	5 semesters	23	See tuition page

How the credits stack

Every option above feeds the same destination: the Associate of Applied Science in Industrial Technology, which is 60 credit hours over five semesters and offered at 23 Indiana locations. The 60 hours break down as 17 general education credits, 42 program-specific credits and 1 student-success credit, and welding coursework counts toward the program-specific block. Students in the Ivy Tech catalog who finish a technical certificate frequently stack those hours into the AAS rather than restarting, which is the main argument for picking the 34-credit technical certificate over a single 6-credit AWS course if you can afford the time. A one-semester AWS certification is the fastest route to a resume line, but the technical certificate is the route to a degree. The 21-credit Structural Welding certificate sits neatly in the middle: faster than the TC, stackable like it, and often the choice students make when they want the fundamentals without committing to a full degree.

One practical note on the AWS options. You will see them listed both as credit-bearing courses and as shorter, non-credit skills training classes, such as this GMAW certification preparation listing. The credit-bearing version counts toward your degree; the skills training version does not. Know which one you are signing up for before you sit down, and check the full skills training class list for the format and schedule at your campus.

What’s Actually Taught: SMAW, MIG, TIG, Pipe Welding and Blueprint Reading

When you step into one of Ivy Tech’s welding labs for the first time, the goal isn’t to just strike an arc. It’s to learn how to think like a welder. Across both the Industrial Technology Welding Technology technical certificate and the Structural Welding certificate, your time is split between the classroom and a very hands-on lab with the purpose of building skills that directly translate over to a shop floor.

The Foundations Before You Lay a Bead

Before process work ever takes over, you’ll spend a large chunk of your arc hours on the fundamentals. These are the skills that prevent wasted metal, failed welds, and safety issues. Expect to cover welding fundamentals, technical math, machine setup, electrode and filler-metal selection, joint preparation and fit-up, tacking, heat control, distortion control, and visual inspection.

That technical math may not seem exciting at first, but it’s used more often than you’d think. From figuring out joint angles, to calculating filler metal needs, to reading dimensions off of prints, it’s just as much of a shop tool as your stinger or MIG gun. Alongside that, blueprint reading is introduced early on, teaching you to interpret weld symbols, callouts, and joint types to know exactly what the job is asking for before striking an arc.

Learning The Three Core Processes

For both certificates, process coverage focuses around the three most in demand in Indiana shops: Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW, also known as stick), Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW, also known as MIG), and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW, also known as TIG). While all three can join steel, they could not be more different in practice.

• SMAW (Stick): This is the workhorse for field and structural work. It’s portable, versatile, and can handle dirtier material with the right electrode. It’s heavily used for structural steel, repairs, and outdoor jobs where wind would wreak havoc on gas shielding.
• GMAW (MIG): Ideal for production, fabrication, and sheet metal work. With a continuous wire feed, MIG allows for longer, cleaner passes at a faster pace, making it efficient for high-volume work. This process is a great foundation to learn before branching into more specific applications, such as those covered within an Aluminum MIG Welding setting.
• GTAW (TIG): The most precise of the three. TIG is the go-to for thin material, stainless steel, and jobs that require an immaculate finish with little to no cleanup. Patience is a necessity here, as hand control is everything. For specialty projects, such as those seen with Aluminum Boat Welding, this precision is invaluable.

Your Elective: Choosing Your Direction

This is where your goal begins to dictate your training. For the Welding Technology technical certificate, you’re required to take a targeted elective, such as pipe welding, welding fabrication, or blueprint reading for welders. This choice matters tremendously. If you’re looking to pursue pipeline, power generation, or mechanical contracting work, pipe welding will be your priority. If you’d rather build frames, brackets, and custom assemblies for a fabrication shop, welding fabrication will better fit that route. If your goal leans towards inspection down the road, doubling down on blueprint reading will give you a massive head start.

These electives are also what tie directly into some of Ivy Tech’s course-based AWS workforce certifications, such as AWS Pipe Welding II for pipe welding and pipe fitting, AWS SMAW II for welders and fabricators using SMAW, AWS GMAW II for GMAW, and AWS GTAW II for GTAW, all of which are framed towards entry-level careers.

Lab Reality, Term Structure, and Progression

With Ivy Tech’s 8-week term structure, classes move fast. You won’t spend an entire semester solely learning theory. Instead, you’ll be in the lab as soon as possible to get arc time. The ratio of “weld to fail” to “weld to pass” is what builds consistency, especially when utilizing knowledge such as that found within an All Position Welding Rod selection guide to get the most out of your consumables.

At the end of the day, you’re not just collecting hours, you’re building a portfolio of welds that a shop can look at and know that you can show up, read a print, prep your joint, and lay a sound, inspectable bead. That’s the skill that gets you on the floor, and it’s exactly what these courses are built to teach.

What It Costs and How to Get Welding Classes Free Through Next Level Jobs

Money is usually why somebody types “ivy tech welding classes” into a search bar late at night, wondering whether starting is even affordable.

The published numbers on Ivy Tech’s Industrial Technology program page are unusually transparent. The Welding Technology technical certificate is listed at $6,065 for 34 credit hours, the Structural Welding short-term certificate at $3,746 for 21 credit hours. Each of the four AWS II workforce certifications is listed at $1,070 for 6 credit hours, and the OSHA 10-Hour credential at $535 for 3 credit hours. Every one of those totals divides out to roughly $178 per credit hour, which is a solid number for building a budget. All four figures come from the same Industrial Technology program page.

Credential	Credits	Cost	Per credit
Welding Technology technical certificate	34	$6,065	~$178
Structural Welding short-term certificate	21	$3,746	~$178
AWS workforce certification (each of four)	6	$1,070	~$178
OSHA 10-Hour credential	3	$535	~$178

Now the honest caveat: these are published starting points, not quotes. They shift with the catalog year, leave out some fees, and leave out what nobody lists on a program page: textbooks, hoods, gloves, leather jackets, wire brushes, safety glasses, and consumables you burn through in lab. Rates can also differ by campus, so treat the table as a planning floor and confirm the real number with your campus. Ivy Tech’s tuition and fees page is the authoritative source for current rates, and the catalog shows what a specific credential costs at a specific campus.

Next Level Jobs: How the Money Actually Gets Covered

Next Level Jobs is Indiana’s initiative for covering tuition and mandatory fees of eligible short-term, in-demand training. At Ivy Tech it runs through the Workforce Ready Grant, and it applies to the welding credentials listed above rather than a separate program. Current-year rules live on the Next Level Jobs page.

Eligibility comes down to three gates:

• Indiana residency. You are an Indiana resident as defined by the state for financial aid purposes.
• State financial aid eligibility. You qualify for state financial aid and have filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Education level. You hold a high school diploma or equivalent but have less than a college degree already completed.

One wrinkle catches people every year. For the 2026-2027 academic year, first-time dependent students are not eligible for the Workforce Ready Grant. Independent students qualify, and so do dependent students continuing a program they already started. A financially dependent high school senior would not be covered, while a working adult filing as independent would be. Get an answer before you register for a single credit.

Credit vs. Non-Credit Training: Two Different Doors

Next Level Jobs money is not just for certificates that vanish into a drawer. A funded credential stacks into the Welding Technology technical certificate and on into the Associate of Applied Science in Industrial Technology, so courses you take on the state’s dime also count toward a degree you can finish later. That is the best financial argument for picking a credential over a standalone workshop, and it is why every option on the program page lists credit hours.

There is a second door for eligible students who do not want a formal certificate: Ivy Tech offers non-credit skills training options through Next Level Jobs. These are shorter, focused offerings, often built around a single process such as a GMAW/MIG certification preparation course. They cost less in time and often in money, but they carry no credit hours, so they will not move you toward a degree.

The Other Doors Into the Budget

Next Level Jobs is usually the biggest one, but it rarely funds everything. Ask about these too:

• Scholarships. Ivy Tech Foundation scholarships and local community foundation awards, which often require a separate application and essay.
• Grants. Federal and state grants you do not repay and that are not based on grades, including options for students returning to school later in life.
• Work-study. Federal work-study funds, usually earned through a part-time campus job. Many shops let you work in the welding lab, so you get paid while you practice.
• Payment plans. Campus payment plans break the balance into installments. Ask whether the plan covers tuition only or fees as well.
• Veteran benefits. GI Bill and Indiana state veteran benefits, including the property tax exemption, can offset costs. If you served, mention it on day one.
• Employer-paid assistance. Many local shops, unions and industrial employers pay for welding training or reimburse certification fees in exchange for a work commitment. Ask the employer, not the college.

If you are comparing Ivy Tech with private training providers, our guide to aluminium welding course costs and careers gives a useful market-rate comparison.

Get those answers in writing before you sign. Bring the credential name, the credit hour count, and a clear question about your funding status.

Certifications That Actually Get You Hired: AWS, NCCER, CWI and Apprenticeships

Welding job postings hide a trap. A single line often asks for two very different things at once: “AWS D1.1 and an AAS.” One is a welding standard. The other is a college degree. If you cannot tell them apart, you will spend money on the wrong credential and still get passed over.

Here is the ladder in plain terms. A college certificate proves you finished a structured course of study. An industry certification proves you can pass a test a specific industry trusts. A registered apprenticeship proves you can do the job on a clock, for money, on live work. You can climb all three, and the strongest resumes use all three.

College certificate vs. industry certification

Everything you finish inside Ivy Tech’s Industrial Technology program is a college credential: a technical certificate (34 credits for welding), a short-term certificate (21 credits for structural welding), or an Associate of Applied Science. It carries credit hours, shows up on a transcript, and can stack toward a degree later. That is what makes it useful for transfer, financial aid, and for employers watching whether you are moving through a hiring pipeline.

An industry certification is a different animal. AWS and NCCER credentials come with a card, a number, and often an expiration date. No college credit attaches to them, and they lapse unless you renew them. What they buy is standing inside a trade. A shop that builds pressure vessels may not care about your GPA, but it cares enormously whether your Certified Welding Inspector is current.

The AWS ladder, rung by rung

AWS sets the standards the rest of the industry works from, and it has authored more than 350 standards for welding practices and procedures. Its certification structure has three levels, and Ivy Tech students can enter at the bottom one.

1. Course-based workforce certifications. These are the entry-level cards tied to Ivy Tech’s four 6-credit AWS courses: Pipe Welding II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding II, Gas Metal Arc Welding II and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding II. Each one is process specific, which is exactly why employers like them. If you want a card that says stick, our read on why SMAW still wins explains what that credential is worth on a structural site.

2. The AWS Certified Welder Program. This is the performance qualification, not the classroom course. You pass a test, get a number, and that number is tracked through the National Registry of Certified Welders with renewal cycles attached. If you want to see how thin-section and aluminum work is judged under the D1.2 family of codes, read our aerospace welding guide.

3. The professional tier. AWS offers the Certified Welding Inspector (CWI), the Senior CWI (the highest level AWS offers), Certified Welding Supervisor (CWS), Certified Welding Educator (CWE), Certified Welding Engineer (CWENG) and Certified Robotic Arc Welding (CRAW). Professionals then add endorsements: D1.1 structural steel, D1.2 aluminum, D1.5 bridge welding, API 1104 pipeline welding and ASME BPVC Section IX, plus nondestructive testing endorsements for magnetic particle (MT) and penetrant (PT) testing.

NCCER: the construction credential

NCCER is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational foundation created in 1996 and the national construction credentialing body. It reports 26.2 million or more successful training completions, 1,105 accredited organizations, 1,489 accredited training and assessment programs, and 5,642 points of delivery. It builds and grades its own welding curriculum and credentials, aimed at the construction trades rather than the welding discipline itself.

You will see NCCER most often on pipeline, structural and mechanical projects, and increasingly in apprenticeship halls. A card that reads NCCER Welding or NCCER Pipeline Welding carries weight with contractors who staff their own jobs.

The apprenticeship lane

Apprenticeships solve a problem no short course can: they pay you while they train you. A Registered Apprenticeship under the US Department of Labor has five components: a sponsor (an employer, a union or a joint organization), journey workers mentoring you, a formal training plan, a written apprenticeship agreement, and registration with the department. In exchange for the training, you agree to work a set number of hours for a set wage, usually with increases at milestones.

The Department of Labor’s apprenticeship system is where you search openings and where your record is tracked. You earn a Journey card documenting your hours, your tests and the related classroom instruction you have completed.

Ivy Tech runs its own Industrial Apprenticeship and partners with building-trade JATCs, delivering the related instruction portion toward a technical certificate or an AAS with no out-of-pocket cost to you. Its apprenticeship page reports 90 percent employment retention after completion, 90 percent of apprentices finishing training, 89 percent still with the same employer five years later, and a 150 percent average return on investment for employers.

The Job Outlook: What Welding Work Pays Right Now

Signing up for a welding credential is the easy part. The harder question is what the work actually pays once you have it. The good news is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks welding as a single, specific occupation, so you can read real numbers instead of guessing. The nuance is that “welding work” is not one market. A structural welder inside a manufacturing plant and a pipe fitter on a bridge job work in different industries at different pay rates, and where you take your training decides which lane you end up in.

The Federal Baseline

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reports 437,700 jobs for welders, cutters, solderers and brazers in 2025. The median annual wage was $53,750, or $25.84 per hour. The bottom of the range is not generous: the lowest 10 percent earned less than $39,240 a year, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $77,530. That wide spread tracks specialization, process experience and industry far more than it tracks time at the bench.

Growth, though, is modest. BLS projects employment to rise 2 percent from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3 percent average growth expected across all occupations in the same period. In headcount that is an increase of 10,300 jobs. The number that matters more for a new entrant is volume: BLS expects roughly 40,300 openings each year, and most of those are not brand-new positions. They exist because experienced welders retire, move out of the trade or shift into other work. That is a slower market than a boom, but also a steadier one with less risk of a graduating class flooding it.

On the education side, BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as typical entry-level education, with moderate-term on-the-job training. In other words, employers do not require a four-year degree to start, but they absolutely care about proven hands-on skill and safety discipline. BLS also flags that OSHA requires welders to complete training on electrical safety, which is one more reason the safety content inside a credential such as the welding options inside Ivy Tech’s Industrial Technology program is not paperwork to skim.

Where the Jobs Actually Are

Here is the industry mix BLS reports for the occupation, with median wages measured in May 2025:

Industry	Share of welding jobs	Median annual wage
Manufacturing	63%	$51,210
Specialty trade contractors	8%	$59,440
Self-employed workers	4%	Not separately reported
Repair and maintenance	4%	$56,080

Manufacturing is where the volume is, and it is also where the pay is lowest on the median. Specialty trade contractors pay the most of these major groups, roughly $8,230 above the manufacturing median, because they pick up structural, pipe and infrastructure work that plants do not. That is the trade-off to understand: the biggest, steadiest employer base pays close to the median, while the smaller contractor segment pays more but hires less predictably and works project by project.

What Drives Demand, and What Holds It Back

The pull comes from the physical condition of the country. A large share of bridges, highways, water systems and commercial buildings in the United States are past the midpoint of their service life, and repairing or replacing them means cutting out old steel and joining new steel. That work does not go away when a factory slows down, and it is less exposed to offshore sourcing than a manufactured part would be. The aerospace welding and aluminum specialty segments add another layer, where process control and lighter metals carry a premium for welders who can prove they can do it.

The counterweight is automation. Robotic and mechanized welding handles high-volume, repetitive seams in manufacturing, which is exactly the 63 percent chunk of the market. That caps how fast overall headcount can grow and pushes value toward welders who can program, troubleshoot, fit up and handle one-off work a robot cannot touch. Process knowledge matters more each year, and why SMAW still wins on structural and field work is a useful reminder that the “old” process is not obsolete. It is simply the one that survives outdoors, on dirty steel, where a machine cannot follow.

The Wage Ladder Into Adjacent Occupations

A welding credential is a ticket into several nearby trades, and the money climbs when you add a specialty or move into maintenance-heavy work.

Adjacent occupation	Median annual wage
Boilermakers	$76,410
Industrial machinery mechanics and millwrights	$64,100
Plumbers and pipefitters	$63,800
Sheet metal workers	$61,800
Machinists	$59,620
Metal and plastic machine workers	$47,700
Assemblers and fabricators	$45,450

Notice the bottom of that ladder. Assemblers and fabricators at $45,450 sit below the welding median, and they are the most common first job for someone with only a welding credential. That is a legitimate way in, but treat it as a starting rung, not a destination. Pipefitting, boilermaking and machine maintenance are the usual next steps, and each one rides on the same underlying skill plus added credentials.

Ivy Tech Welding Classes vs. Community College, Trade School, Bootcamp and Union Apprenticeship

Welding is one of the few trades where the cheapest route, the fastest route and the route employers respect most rarely lead through the same door. Ivy Tech is not automatically the right answer for every student, and any page that claims otherwise is selling something. Here is how the five common paths compare on time, cost, credential and portability.

Five options turn up in nearly every “welding classes” search: Ivy Tech, a community college or technical high school, a private trade school, a short bootcamp, and a union JATC apprenticeship. They are not interchangeable. One gives you credit, one gives you a paycheck, one gives you a card that travels with you for life. Often you can stack two or all three.

Factor	Ivy Tech	Community college / technical high school	Private trade school	Short bootcamp	Union JATC apprenticeship
Credential	Short-term certificate, technical certificate or AAS in Industrial Technology, stackable credit	Certificate or AAS; Indiana technical high schools are tuition-free	Non-credit program certificate, narrow and process-specific	Certificate of completion, usually non-credit and non-transferable	USDOL Journeyman’s Card, plus an Ivy Tech certificate or AAS where partnered
Time to credential	Two semesters for the 21-credit Structural Welding CT, three for the 34-credit Welding Technology TC, one term for an AWS workforce certification. Terms run eight weeks	Comparable, sometimes more compressed	Weeks to a few months, often evenings or weekends	Typically a handful of weeks	Three to four years, but you earn the whole time
Cost	$3,746 for the 21-credit CT, $6,065 for the 34-credit TC, plus $1,070 per AWS certification. Next Level Jobs can cover tuition and mandatory fees	In-state tuition runs below Ivy Tech’s rate; Next Level Jobs applies statewide	Highest cost per week of instruction; nothing is state subsidized	Low sticker price, similar cost per hour, generally no financial aid eligibility	No tuition. You are paid a wage from day one
Hands-on lab time	Shop time spread across the term in a SACA-certified testing location, taught by AWS-certified instructors	Shop-heavy too, but lab capacity varies widely by campus	Most shop time per week, one process done to a high standard	Intensive and narrow, often one process or industry	Real work on real job sites, plus related classroom instruction
Employer ties	19 to 22 campus locations, a campus career office, and an employer services team for up-training staff	Deep local ties to regional manufacturers and contractors	Placement-focused, though some are for-profit operations that treat placement as the product	Partnerships with specific employers or tech firms, usually narrow	Union hiring halls and signatory contractor agreements, a channel most non-union students cannot access
Portability	Real college credit that stacks into the AAS and transfers to other public institutions	Generally transferable within the state system	Rarely transferable, recognized mainly by the school’s own name	Least portable of the five; employers often discount it	Journeyman’s card is the most widely recognized credential of the group
Best fit	Students who want a credential that stacks toward a degree, need financial aid, and want broad SMAW, MIG and TIG coverage	Local students wanting cheap in-state tuition, or high school juniors and seniors starting early	Career changers who need fast, process-specific drilling in a niche, such as aerospace welding school programs or aluminium welding courses	Skilled workers who need a short, targeted add-on credential rather than a foundation	Anyone who wants to earn while learning and finish with a journeyman card

What an apprenticeship actually gives you

Ivy Tech’s apprenticeship page lists five components: business involvement, on-the-job training of not less than one year, related instruction, progressive wage increases, and a national occupational credential. That framework comes straight from the U.S. Department of Labor model, which is why an apprenticeship can run alongside school rather than after it.

Ivy Tech’s Industrial Apprenticeship program centers on USDOL-approved programs that combine on-the-job training with related technical education, earning a Journeyman’s Card alongside the general education classes needed for a technical certificate or AAS. Listed JATC pathways include ironworker, sheet metal worker, boilermaker, carpenter, electrical lineman and pipefitter, each leading to a 60-credit-hour AAS. Open programs are searchable through the federal Apprenticeship.gov system, and Ivy Tech also runs non-credit skills training classes for workers who want one AWS certification without a full program.

The route for companies, not students

If you are already employed and your boss is paying, the comparison changes completely. Ivy Tech’s employer services hub handles custom training for shops that would rather up-train their own crew than hire graduates. Through Skill Up Your Employees and related custom training offerings, a shop can bring existing employees to campus, train them on specific processes, and build a pipeline it controls. That is usually a better business case than sponsoring a student who might take an offer elsewhere.

For an individual student, the takeaway is simpler. If you need money now, the apprenticeship lane wins. If you need weight across the widest range of employers, the college certificate or AWS certification wins. If you need competence on one specific process quickly, a trade school or bootcamp wins. And if you can do both at once, which is exactly what the Ivy Tech and JATC partnership allows, you finish with a card and a degree.

Mistakes That Wreck a First Welding Semester (and How to Avoid Them)

Most first-semester disasters in a welding program are not arc-skills disasters. They are scheduling, paperwork and assumption disasters: a section that is not running, or a college certificate in hand when the shop wanted an AWS certification by name. Here are six mistakes worth heading off, plus a troubleshooting table you can keep on your phone.

1. Assuming your class runs every semester at every campus. The Industrial Technology program page gives each credential a location count: the Structural Welding short-term certificate appears at 22 locations, the Welding Technology technical certificate at 20, and the four AWS course-based workforce certifications at 19. That spread does not mean every campus runs every track every term; some campuses pair welding with a local manufacturer and offer an AWS II section only in the fall. Use the Ivy Tech course schedule search tool to confirm the course number, campus, term and start date before you register and before you promise a start date to an employer.
2. Confusing a college certificate with an industry certification. The Welding Technology technical certificate is an Ivy Tech award with credit hours attached. The four AWS credentials (Pipe Welding II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding II, Gas Metal Arc Welding II, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding II) are AWS workforce credentials earned through a testing event. A resume reads those two very differently. If a posting asks for AWS D1.1 3G, a college certificate will not satisfy it. If an employer asks “are you a credentialed welder?” they may mean the certification. Ask which one they mean before you spend money.
3. Neglecting safety fundamentals. This is the mistake that ends a semester early, and it is regulated, not optional. 29 CFR 1910.252 requires employer training for anyone performing welding or cutting. Read it before your first lab, not after.
   • Eye and face protection. Helmets or hand shields are required for all arc welding or arc cutting. The standard sets shade 10 for shielded metal-arc welding with 1/16 to 5/32 inch electrodes and shade 12 for gas-shielded arc welding of ferrous metals. SMAW and MIG work are not interchangeable here.
   • Ventilation. Mechanical ventilation must run at least 2,000 cubic feet per minute per welder when welding in spaces under 10,000 cubic feet per welder, or in rooms with ceilings under 16 feet. Local exhaust hoods must hold a control velocity of at least 100 linear feet per minute in the welding zone.
   • Fire prevention. Combustibles must be relocated at least 35 feet from the work site where practicable, with authorization from the individual responsible for cutting and welding operations, preferably a written permit. A required fire watch stays at least a half hour after welding finishes.
   • Containers. No hot work on used drums, barrels, tanks or containers until they are thoroughly cleaned of flammable materials, all piping or connections are disconnected or blanked off, and hollow spaces are vented.
   • Clothing. Protective clothing, gloves and footwear fall under 29 CFR 1910.132. FR clothing that is loose or frayed is a burn waiting to happen.
4. Picking the wrong elective. The targeted elective in the Welding Technology technical certificate is one of three: pipe welding, welding fabrication or blueprint reading. Pipe welding sets you up for pipefitting and process work; welding fabrication suits general shop and structural assembly. Blueprint reading pays off fastest if you want to move toward fabrication, layout or inspection, because reading a print turns you from a “welder who can run a bead” into someone who can build to a print. If you are unsure, ask your instructor which elective recent local hires took.
5. Skipping the stack to the associate degree. The technical certificate is designed to stack into the Associate of Applied Science in Industrial Technology. Plenty of students take the 34-credit certificate, get hired and never return, which is a mistake when a plant’s pay scale keys off the degree. The welding courses you already took may count. Get an advisor to map your credits in writing before you register for the next term.
6. Budgeting wrong. The published totals are starting points, not invoices: roughly $6,065 for the 34-credit technical certificate, $3,746 for the 21-credit Structural Welding short-term certificate, $1,070 per AWS workforce certification and $535 for the OSHA 10-Hour credential. Add what the totals do not cover: boots, a jacket, gloves, a wire brush, safety glasses, respirators, cylinder rental, and the cost of reaching campus at 6 a.m. Fill out the FAFSA early so Next Level Jobs eligibility is confirmed before registration.

Shop Troubleshooting: Four Problems Every Beginner Hits

Problem	Usual Cause	Fix
Slag inclusion	Poor interpass cleaning, wrong travel angle, travel speed too fast	Chip and wire-brush every pass, hold a 10 to 15 degree drag angle, slow down
Porosity	Contaminated base metal or filler, wrong gas flow, wind blowing the shielding away	Grind to bright metal, check the flow meter, keep the nozzle about half an inch off the work and shield the area
Undercut	Too much heat, arc held too long in one spot, wrong work angle	Keep a tight arc of roughly 1/8 inch, fix the work angle, drag the puddle along the joint
Poor bead profile (wide, humped, rippled)	Filler size mismatched to thickness, amperage or wire feed off, weave too wide	Match filler to material thickness, dial parameters on a coupon, hold travel speed steady

Every one of those is a parameter or technique problem, not a talent problem. Write down what you changed between passes, because that habit is what separates a student from a production welder. If you are still choosing a process for a specific material, our guides to position welding rod selection and aluminium welding go deeper on filler choices.

I’ll rewrite this section to fit within the 560–840 word range while keeping the heading, facts, and all links intact.

Let me first count the words in the current fragment to understand the scope.The fragment is 1,073 words — over the 840 max. I’ll tighten it while preserving every fact and all 14 links.Still over at 1,043. Let me compress the connective tissue while keeping every fact.Need to cut ~160 more words. I’ll merge overlapping steps and tighten the prose.Close. Let me do a final tightening pass to land inside the range.One word over. Let me make the final trim and verify.Final version verified: **836 words** (within 560–840), all **14 links** intact, and every key fact preserved.

What I did to bring the 1,073-word original down to target:

– **Merged overlapping steps**: the AAS-stack advice folded into the “call admissions, Career Link and an advisor” step, and the career-office/resume step trimmed to one item.
– **Cut filler phrasing**: “Reading is the easy part,” “Sequencing matters, because,” “Treat those as published starting points and confirm current pricing” → tighter versions that keep the substance.
– **Tightened the timeline table**: same three windows and three columns, but each cell now states the outcome instead of restating it.
– **Trimmed the closing paragraph**: kept the thesis, the “ask three employers” advice, the BLS steady-demand point, the shift-work note, and the closing CTA, but dropped the repeated “Start tonight” echo from the intro.
– **Preserved every statistic, price, credit count, location count, and the affiliate disclosure** verbatim where they carry meaning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ivy Tech have a welding degree?

There is no standalone welding degree in Ivy Tech’s published All Academic Programs list. Welding training sits inside the Industrial Technology program, where you can earn a Welding Technology technical certificate, a Structural Welding short-term certificate, or one of four AWS course-based workforce certifications, and those credits stack toward an Associate of Applied Science in Industrial Technology.

How much do Ivy Tech welding classes cost, and can I get them free?

Published program-page figures are about $6,065 for the 34-credit Welding Technology technical certificate, $3,746 for the 21-credit Structural Welding certificate, $1,070 for each 6-credit AWS workforce certification and $535 for the OSHA 10-Hour credential. If you qualify for Indiana’s Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grant, tuition and mandatory fees are covered, which requires Indiana residency, a filed FAFSA with state financial aid eligibility, and a high school diploma or equivalent with less than a college degree.

How long does it take to finish an Ivy Tech welding certificate?

The Welding Technology technical certificate is 34 credit hours and typically two to three semesters, while the Structural Welding certificate is 21 credit hours over about two semesters. Each AWS workforce certification is 6 credit hours and can usually be completed in a single 16-week semester. Confirm the term plan with your campus, since course availability varies by location and semester.

Which Ivy Tech campuses offer welding classes?

The Welding Technology technical certificate is offered at 20 Indiana locations, the Structural Welding certificate at 22 locations, and each AWS workforce certification at 19 locations, with the full location lists published on the Industrial Technology program page. Individual course sections still vary by semester, so search the Ivy Tech course schedule tool and confirm with the campus before you register.

What gear and PPE do I need for Ivy Tech welding classes?

Plan on your own helmet and gloves at minimum, and expect to wear flame-resistant clothing, safety-toe leather shoes and hearing protection during lab time. OSHA’s 1910.252 standard requires helmets or hand shields for all arc welding with shade-number guidance, protective clothing under 1910.132, and adequate ventilation, and many college shops supply or rent helmets, hoods and leathers.

Can I take Ivy Tech welding classes online?

The welding credential coursework itself is hands-on and shop-based, so it is delivered in person at the campuses that offer it. What you can take online is the credentialing layer around it, including AWS training in dual format, online instructor-led and self-paced options, and non-credit skills training certifications that carry no academic credit.

Is an Ivy Tech welding certificate the same as an AWS certification?

No. An Ivy Tech certificate is a college credential showing completed coursework, while AWS certification is an industry credential awarded after an assessment. Ivy Tech’s AWS workforce certifications are preparation for entry-level careers, and the college also lists AWS GMAW, FCAW and SMAW certification-preparation skills training courses that do not count for college credit.

Can I get an apprenticeship while taking Ivy Tech welding classes?

Yes. Ivy Tech’s Industrial Apprenticeship program delivers USDOL-approved on-the-job training plus related instruction so apprentices can earn a Journeyman’s Card alongside a technical certificate or AAS, and building-trade partners award a nationally recognized Department of Labor certificate with no out-of-pocket costs. You can also search the Department of Labor’s apprenticeship system directly for sponsors hiring welders.

Do I need a high school diploma or prior welding experience to start?

A high school diploma or equivalent is the standard entry point, and Next Level Jobs eligibility requires the same. No prior welding experience is required for the entry credentials, though your program placement depends on math and reading skills, so expect a placement assessment and the possibility of a preparatory course.

What jobs can I get after Ivy Tech welding classes?

Ivy Tech lists stick pipe welder, welder, autobody technician, welding fabricator, pipe fitter and metal fabricator as sample careers for Welding Technology technical certificate graduates. Broader Industrial Technology outcomes add automation specialist, process technician, general maintenance technician and quality specialist roles, with welder and fabricator among the named career paths.