Advanced Career Institute Welding and Machining (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Precision Metal Working
- Private for-profit school
- Visalia, CA
- About 163 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Advanced Career Institute welding and machining graduates earn about what welding and machining graduates earn nationally, $31,401 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $8,023 in federal loans, close to the national median of $8,447. Several California programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all welding and machining certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Advanced Career Institute graduates earn less than the national figure and about $7,821 less than the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California welding and machining program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 12% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $85 a month, or 3.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 40 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $3,921.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
94% of graduates (160 of 171) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the Visalia area are about the same as the national average.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to welding and machining, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
$58,060Median pay in California. 26,060 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Machinists
$57,190Median pay in California. 18,950 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 26,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$48,450Median pay in California. 7,710 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
$56,510Median pay in California. 21,680 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Advanced Career Institute
Welding and Machining ranks 2nd of 2 certificate programs at Advanced Career Institute by first-year earnings. The other is Truck Driving and Equipment Operation ($38,651).
Other welding and machining certificate programs near Visalia
Common questions
The median graduate earns $31,401 one year after graduating and $35,164 five years after. The median across welding and machining certificate programs in California is $35,194.
The median federal loan balance is $8,023, which ranks 3rd lowest of 5 welding and machining certificate programs in California. That works out to about $85 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 26% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 22%. Compare the cost with other California programs before deciding.
Most do. 94% (160 of 171) were working in California one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the welding and machining program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024