Which Pennsylvania welding and machining program has the lowest debt?

New Castle School of Trades reports the lowest median federal debt, $9,378, with first-year pay of $29,655.

How much do welding and machining graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 10 Pennsylvania welding and machining certificate programs is $34,639 in the first year after graduating and $42,104 five years after.

How many welding and machining certificate programs are in Pennsylvania?

10 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

Welding and Machining (Certificate) Programs in Pennsylvania, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

10 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Certificate in Precision Metal Working

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Pennsylvania welding and machining certificate program pays its graduates $34,639 in their first year, $1,645 less than the national median. Welder Training and Testing Institute reports the highest first-year pay ($47,528), and New Castle School of Trades the lowest median debt ($9,378).

Median first-year pay$34,639National $36,283

Median pay after 5 years$42,104National $45,062

Median federal debt$9,500National $8,447

Debt-to-earnings34%National 22%

All 10 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Welder Training and Testing InstituteAllentown · private for-profit	$47,528	$42,160	$9,500	20%
2	Lancaster County Career and Technology CenterWillow Street · public	$46,331	$45,580	$9,500	21%
3	Laurel Technical Institute (Hermitage, Pennsylvania)Hermitage · private for-profit	$39,287	$30,910	Not reported	Not reported
4	All-State Career SchoolEssington · private for-profit	$38,191	$40,615	$13,000	34%
5	Johnson CollegeScranton · private nonprofit	$37,243	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
6	Rosedale Technical CollegePittsburgh · private nonprofit	$32,034	Not reported	$11,113	35%
7	New Castle School of TradesNew Castle · private for-profit	$29,655	$42,047	$9,378	32%
8	Greater Johnstown Career and Technology CenterJohnstown · public	$27,897	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	Erie Institute of TechnologyErie · private for-profit	$25,942	$42,539	$9,500	37%
10	Philadelphia Technician TrainingPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$15,982	$27,840	$9,500	59%

Laurel Technical Institute (Hermitage, Pennsylvania), Johnson College, and Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania welding and machining program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 7 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Welder Training and Testing Institute$47,528
Lancaster County Career and Technology Center$46,331
Laurel Technical Institute (Hermitage, Pennsylvania)$39,287
All-State Career School$38,191
Johnson College$37,243

Lowest median debt

New Castle School of Trades$9,378
Welder Training and Testing Institute$9,500
Lancaster County Career and Technology Center$9,500
Erie Institute of Technology$9,500
Philadelphia Technician Training$9,500

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

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

$52,900

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 17,850 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.

Bottom 10%: $40,510Top 10%: $74,870

Machinists

$57,810

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 12,380 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.

Bottom 10%: $39,620Top 10%: $77,090

Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

$47,860

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 8,890 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.

Bottom 10%: $35,380Top 10%: $62,590

Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators

$54,590

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 7,840 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.

Bottom 10%: $40,410Top 10%: $74,420

Common questions

Welder Training and Testing Institute in Allentown reports the highest median first-year pay, $47,528. Its median federal debt is $9,500.

Welding and Machining (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked263 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 Pennsylvania rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the welding and machining certificate programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024