Welding Programs at Penn College

Pennsylvania College of Technology anchors its welding training in applied technology, beginning with an Introduction to Welding, and its Williamsport campus offers three separate credentials: a Welding certificate, a Welding Technology A.A.S., and a Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology B.S. Each path has a different cost structure and time commitment, measured by credit load rather than a flat tuition figure.

The associate and bachelor's tracks hold ABET accreditation, while the certificate follows Penn College's college-wide approval. Pennsylvania has no statewide welder license, so AWS certifications and employer-recognized skills become the practical currency for welding jobs and pay.

Welding Programs at Penn College: Certificate, Associate, and Bachelor's Options

Penn College, one of the welding schools in Pennsylvania, offers three separate welding credentials on its Williamsport campus: a Welding certificate, a Welding Technology A.A.S., and a Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology B.S. Students can start at the credential that matches their career goal and build toward a higher-level program if they choose.

Certificate: Core Welding Processes

The Welding certificate emphasizes the core welding processes used in field and shop settings, including shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). Coursework concentrates on hands-on weld practice, weld quality, print reading, and safety. Students build a foundation for entry-level welding work or for moving into the college's degree programs. The certificate track suits students who want focused, process-specific training without the broader academic load of a degree.

Associate Degree: Welding Technology A.A.S.

The Welding Technology A.A.S. combines advanced welding courses with general education in communication, mathematics, and science. The welding portion adds fabrication, layout, inspection, and metallurgy topics to the process skills introduced in the certificate. The general education coursework supports broader responsibilities such as supervision, estimating, and client communication. This degree suits students who want a balance of technical welding ability and academic breadth. Some students begin with the certificate and then continue into the associate program to add general education and advanced welding coursework.

Bachelor's Degree: Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology B.S.

The Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology B.S. shifts the focus toward engineering and management. Students study welding process design, automation and robotics, quality assurance, welding codes, and project management, along with metallurgy and fabrication planning. Graduates pursue roles in welding engineering technology, fabrication management, inspection, technical sales, or production supervision. This program is built for students who want to move beyond hands-on welding into technical leadership and process improvement.

All three credentials are delivered on the Williamsport campus, where students train in the college's welding labs and fabrication facilities.

How Long Are Penn College Welding Programs?

Penn College structures welding education as a ladder: start with a certificate, build into an associate degree, and continue to a bachelor's. All welding programs are delivered on campus; there is no fully online option.

Tuition, Costs, and Financial Aid for Penn College Welding

How much does welding school cost at Penn College, and which aid programs can actually lower the bill? Penn College publishes its welding tuition by credit, so the total for the certificate, A.A.S., and B.S. depends on the number of credits and lab hours required.

Published Tuition and Fees

For fall 2026, in-state tuition is $530 per credit. For spring 2027, it is $539 per credit. All three credit-bearing welding credentials, the certificate, the associate degree in Welding Technology, and the Bachelor of Science in Welding & Fabrication Engineering Technology, use the same per-credit base rate plus college-wide fees. Fees are $25 per credit for technology, $55 per credit for capital, and $70 per credit for the lab-hour fee. Apart from lab-hour charges, Penn College publishes no separate welding consumables or tools surcharge for these programs. Out-of-state per-credit tuition for 2026-27 is not included in the same budget notice, but the 2025-26 typical annual load for a non-Pennsylvania student taking two 15-credit semesters was $26,640. A Pennsylvania resident with the same load paid $18,690.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Students should file the FAFSA to be considered for federal grants, loans, and work-study. Pennsylvania residents enrolled in any associate or bachelor's program who have not already completed bachelor's requirements may qualify for the Grow PA Scholarship Grant Program, which offers up to $5,000 per year for up to four academic years. Penn College lists 117 scholarships for welding certificate students, and others may apply to A.A.S. and B.S. students. The college also extends in-state tuition to active military, veterans, their spouses and dependent children, National Guard and reserve members, and certain DoD civilian employees and families, regardless of residency. Employer tuition assistance can also help, especially for students already working in manufacturing or construction.

Non-Credit Workforce Option

For comparison, the short-term Essential Welding Skills program is $4,725 per participant for Module 1. That includes PPE and a toolkit, lunches, three months of Tooling U-SME access, and AWS D1.1 certification testing; on-campus housing is extra. This is not the credit-bearing certificate, A.A.S., or B.S.

Because Penn College publishes no welding-specific net price after aid, treat the figures above as published pre-aid rates, not a final out-of-pocket cost.

Accreditation: Is Penn College Welding Program Accredited?

Choosing among accredited welding schools often means weighing program-specific accreditation against college-wide accreditation. At Pennsylvania College of Technology, that split shapes the bachelor's and associate degree tracks differently from the shorter certificate.

ABET-Accredited Degree Programs

The Bachelor of Science in Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology is accredited by ABET's Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission. The Associate of Applied Science in Welding Technology is also ABET-accredited under the commission's general criteria. ABET recognition signals that the curriculum, faculty, facilities, and outcomes meet an external standard. For students planning to transfer credits or pursue engineering-technology focused roles, that program-level approval is a useful baseline. For welding employers, ABET recognition can also simplify credential review during hiring, especially for positions that combine fabrication engineering with hands-on welding.

The Welding Certificate

Penn College's welding certificate is not listed as ABET-accredited. Penn College identifies itself as an AWS Accredited Test Facility and Sustaining Company Member and offers AWS certification testing, but its program materials do not claim AWS SENSE accreditation for the certificate or any degree. That distinction is important if a job or apprenticeship specifically requires an AWS SENSE designation rather than general AWS testing access. Students should confirm any SENSE alignment directly with the welding faculty if that specific designation is required.

Institution-Wide Accreditation

Pennsylvania College of Technology is institutionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, with the most recent reaffirmation in 2022. This college-wide status supports federal financial aid eligibility, transfer of general education credits, and employer recognition of Penn College as a legitimate postsecondary institution. That foundation matters even when a shorter certificate does not carry a separate program-level stamp or industry-specific accreditation.

Salary Insight: Welding Wages in Pennsylvania

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in Pennsylvania earned a median annual wage of $52,900 as of May 2025. The national median for the same occupation was $53,750.

Admissions Requirements and Application Deadlines

What do you need to apply to Penn College's welding programs, and when are the deadlines? Admissions for the Welding Certificate, Welding Technology A.A.S., and Welding & Fabrication Engineering Technology B.S. follow Penn College's general undergraduate process rather than a welding-specific cutoff.¹

How to apply

• Submit the online application.
• Provide a current high school transcript. Current high school students send a partial transcript now, then a final transcript or proof of graduation before classes begin.
• Complete Penn College placement testing unless you qualify through SAT/ACT scores or prior college coursework.

Placement requirements

No minimum high school GPA is stated. Placement can be satisfied by Penn College placement tests, qualifying SAT/ACT scores, or accredited postsecondary coursework. An SAT Math score of 580 or higher, or ACT Math of 24 or higher, waives the Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra placement test. Below those thresholds, both Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra tests are required. No welding-specific high school prerequisites are identified; general welder requirements are met through placement testing, and there is no welding-specific entrance exam beyond that.

Deadlines

For domestic degree- or certificate-seeking applicants, the final Fall deadline is July 1, with February 1 recommended. The Spring final deadline is December 1, with October 1 recommended. Penn College may impose major-specific placement requirements, so review the welding program page before applying. Transfer applicants should contact admissions to confirm how prior credits satisfy placement and program requirements.

Welding Certifications and Hands-on Training at Penn College

Students weighing hands-on welding training often face the same tradeoff: broad process exposure versus targeted certification prep. Penn College's welding labs are set up to deliver both, but the path you choose changes how much structured practice and which AWS exam you pursue.

Core Welding Processes

Penn College's welding curriculum centers on four major arc welding processes: shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). Coursework also weaves in design, MIG welding safety, metal preparation, codes and standards, and quality control, so students build process-specific skill alongside the habits employers expect on a job site.

AWS Certification Prep

Students can prepare for AWS certification testing at Penn College, and the college offers AWS certification testing for welding students. Documented exam pathways include AWS D1.2 for aluminum welding and AWS D1.1 qualification through the Essential Welding Skills track. The GMAW/GTAW aluminum course prepares students for the AWS D1.2 aluminum exam, while short-term training materials point to D1.1 for SMAW, GMAW, and FCAW. Short-term routes also mention preparation for AWS D14.1, AWS D1.5, and API 1104 or AWS D1.1 6G pipe welding. Because exam codes vary by program track, applicants should confirm which certification matches their chosen credential.

Lab and Booth Time

The most concrete published practice figure is 22 hours per credit in the welding course sequence for experienced welders preparing for AWS certification. The Essential Welding Skills module adds 160 hours of in-person training in Penn College's welding facility after about 25 hours of online prerequisite work. Program pages describe the certificate as skill-centric and hands-on with advanced industry-specific tools, but they do not publish welding booth counts or booth-hour requirements for every path. Specific virtual welding trainer use is not detailed in reviewed materials either.

Safety and Credentials

Safety runs through each lab, with course content covering metal preparation, codes and standards, and quality control. Program materials reviewed do not specify a separate OSHA 10 credential, so applicants should verify current safety certification options directly with Penn College before enrolling. A lab tour or direct conversation with faculty can clarify current booth availability and any OSHA credential alignment.

Related Articles

Pennsylvania Welding Credentials: Certification vs. License

Career Outcomes and Employer Connections

For many students, the core question is whether a welding credential at Penn College turns into a job, and at what pay. Penn College publishes placement rates that help with the first question. The school does not, however, publish a welding-specific median starting salary, so students should ask career services for wage details rather than rely on institution-wide earnings.

Placement rates for welding programs

Program pages list a 95 percent overall placement rate for the Welding & Fabrication Engineering Technology program and 96 percent for the Welding Technology A.A.S. For context, Penn College's college-wide 2026 graduate placement rate is 98 percent. These are different scopes: the college-wide figure includes all majors, while the welding figures are program-level. Some secondary coverage describes welding job placement as "nearly 100 percent," but that is not the figure the college's welding program pages cite.

What the salary data does and does not show

Penn College does not report a median starting salary specifically for welding graduates. A 2026 earnings story notes that alumni earnings run above national medians, but that comparison is institution-wide and not a welding-specific outcome. For a realistic earnings picture, prospective students should talk to faculty or career services, or look at state-level welder wage data.

Employer connections and career support

Welding & Fabrication Engineering Technology program materials mention industry partners, though Penn College does not publish a single official employer partner list. Local and third-party accounts point to demand from first-tier aerospace suppliers and precision manufacturers in central Pennsylvania. At a 2026 career fair, the school reported strong employer demand for welding and other technical students. Career services supports that pipeline through job fairs, on-campus recruiting, and internship or co-op opportunities. Because placement is reported annually and can shift with the local job market, ask for the most recent year's data when you visit or contact the school.