WELDING SCHOOLS IN COLORADO — Federal Data, September 2026
Welding Schools in Colorado, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
4 accredited institutions in Colorado report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 4 ranked programs in Colorado, the median graduate needs 3.0 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $8,236, against median earnings of $35,687 one year after completion.
That is exactly in line with the national median of 3.0 months for this field, measured across the 208 institutions in our national welding schools ranking. The best performer in the state is Emily Griffith Technical College in Denver, at 2.2 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Colorado institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about welding schools in Colorado
The Ranking
4 welding schools in Colorado, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emily Griffith Technical CollegeDenver, CO | Public | Certificate | 2.2 | $8,125 | $44,943 | 97% |
| 2 | Front Range Community CollegeWestminster, CO | Public | Certificate | 2.9 | $8,347 | $34,125 | 35% |
| 3 | Lincoln College of Technology-DenverDenver, CO | for-profit | Certificate | 3.0 | $9,429 | $37,249 | 71% |
| 4 | Pueblo Community CollegePueblo, CO | Public | Certificate | 3.1 | $6,625 | $25,970 | 31% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Colorado, one by one
Emily Griffith Technical College
Denver, CO
Emily Griffith Technical College is a public institution in Denver. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $8,125 and report median earnings of $44,943 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.2 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 0.8 months faster than the Colorado state median of 3.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 97% completion rate.
Front Range Community College
Westminster, CO
Front Range Community College is a public institution in Westminster. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $8,347 and report median earnings of $34,125 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.9 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the Colorado state median of 3.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 35% completion rate.
Lincoln College of Technology-Denver
Denver, CO
Lincoln College of Technology-Denver is a private for-profit institution in Denver. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $9,429 and report median earnings of $37,249 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.0 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and right on the Colorado state median of 3.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 71% completion rate.
Pueblo Community College
Pueblo, CO
Pueblo Community College is a public institution in Pueblo. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,625 and report median earnings of $25,970 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.1 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and right on the Colorado state median of 3.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 31% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
With only 4 institutions publishable here, this page is a short list by construction. It is not a directory of every school in Colorado: many programs, especially at institutions that do not take federal student aid, never appear in this data at all.
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other Programs in Colorado
Comparing a different trade in Colorado
For COLORADO School Operators
Want to know how your program ranks against these?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Colorado median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
Book Your Free Enrollment AuditBy application only — reserved for trade and vocational school operators enrolling 50+ students a year.