WELDING SCHOOLS IN KENTUCKY — Federal Data, September 2026
Welding Schools in Kentucky, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
9 accredited institutions in Kentucky 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 9 ranked programs in Kentucky, the median graduate needs 2.4 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $8,439, against median earnings of $42,233 one year after completion.
That is faster than 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 Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in Elizabethtown, at 1.6 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Kentucky institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about welding schools in Kentucky
The Ranking
9 welding schools in Kentucky, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elizabethtown Community and Technical CollegeElizabethtown, KY | Public | Certificate | 1.6 | $7,166 | $53,172 | 59% |
| 2 | Ashland Community and Technical CollegeAshland, KY | Public | Certificate | 1.8 | $5,500 | $36,796 | 51% |
| 3 | Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical CollegeBowling Green, KY | Public | Certificate | 1.9 | $9,413 | $58,996 | 58% |
| 4 | Owensboro Community and Technical CollegeOwensboro, KY | Public | Certificate | 2.0 | $7,475 | $45,366 | 54% |
| 5 | Somerset Community CollegeSomerset, KY | Public | Certificate | 2.4 | $8,439 | $41,415 | 43% |
| 6 | Gateway Community and Technical CollegeFlorence, KY | Public | Certificate | 2.6 | $9,041 | $42,233 | 59% |
| 7 | Bluegrass Community and Technical CollegeLexington, KY | Public | Certificate | 2.8 | $10,684 | $46,133 | 43% |
| 8 | West Kentucky Community and Technical CollegePaducah, KY | Public | Certificate | 2.8 | $8,250 | $35,603 | 50% |
| 9 | Maysville Community and Technical CollegeMaysville, KY | Public | Certificate | 3.2 | $9,820 | $36,394 | 56% |
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 Kentucky, one by one
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
Elizabethtown, KY
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is a public institution in Elizabethtown. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $7,166 and report median earnings of $53,172 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.6 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 0.8 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 2.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 59% completion rate.
Ashland Community and Technical College
Ashland, KY
Ashland Community and Technical College is a public institution in Ashland. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $5,500 and report median earnings of $36,796 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.8 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 0.6 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 2.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 51% completion rate.
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College
Bowling Green, KY
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College is a public institution in Bowling Green. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $9,413 and report median earnings of $58,996 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.9 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 0.5 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 2.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 58% completion rate.
Owensboro Community and Technical College
Owensboro, KY
Owensboro Community and Technical College is a public institution in Owensboro. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $7,475 and report median earnings of $45,366 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.0 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 0.4 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 2.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 54% completion rate.
Somerset Community College
Somerset, KY
Somerset Community College is a public institution in Somerset. Its welding graduates leave with a median federal debt of $8,439 and report median earnings of $41,415 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.4 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 2.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 43% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
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 Kentucky
Comparing a different trade in Kentucky
For KENTUCKY School Operators
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