Florida's 1,050-Hour Welding Programs: How Long They Really Take

If you look up welding school anywhere in Florida, you keep running into the same number: 1,050 hours. Of the 36 Florida welding programs on this site, 32 list a Welding Technology certificate at 1,050 clock hours. That is true in Miami, in Tallahassee and in almost every county in between.

The shared number is useful. It means the core training is close to the same wherever you go, so you can choose on schedule, location and price. But 1,050 hours doesn’t tell you how long you’ll be in school. That depends on how many hours a day you’re in the shop, and it ranges from about 8 months to 30.

How Many Months 1,050 Hours Takes

Clock hours are time in class and in the welding booth. A full-time day program runs five to seven hours a day, so you finish in roughly a school year. An evening program runs three to five hours a night, four nights a week, so the same hours stretch well past a year.

Here is what schools list for the same 1,050-hour certificate, day and evening:

A few patterns stand out. Florida State College at Jacksonville packs its day program into Monday to Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:50 p.m., which is why it finishes in 8 months. Florida Gateway’s full-time schedule is also long days (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), but it lists 15 months, so its calendar has more breaks built in.

Evening tracks roughly double the time at most schools. Indian River and Erwin are the exceptions: their night programs run 5:00 to 10:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., long enough that you give up only a few months.

Schools That Run Only One Schedule

Some technical colleges offer one track, which makes the choice simple if it fits your life.

• Lake Technical College in Eustis lists 1,050 hours as about one school year, or 36 weeks. It conferred 70 welding awards in 2024–25, the most of any public program in the state.
• Tom P. Haney Technical College in Panama City runs Monday to Friday, 6:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., for 35 weeks. You’re done by early afternoon, which leaves room for a part-time job.
• Orange Technical College runs the program at its South Campus in Orlando and its West Campus in Ocoee, about 11 months full-time at each.
• Osceola Technical College in Kissimmee and Atlantic Technical College in Coconut Creek both start at 7:05 a.m. and run about 11 months. Atlantic starts new classes in August and January.
• Treasure Coast Technical College in Vero Beach lists 10 months.
• Wilton Simpson Technical College in Brooksville runs only in the evening, Monday to Thursday, 3:30 to 9:30 p.m., for 53 weeks.
• Miami Lakes Educational Center runs evening classes from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m.

If you already work days, the evening-only schools and the evening tracks in the table above are your realistic options. If you can stop working, a day program at Florida State College at Jacksonville, Manatee or Marion gets you to the job market fastest.

Clock Hours at Technical Colleges, Credits at State Colleges

Florida has two kinds of public welding schools, and they describe the same program in different units.

The county technical colleges (Lake, Lively, Pinellas, Traviss, Ridge and others) count clock hours and usually quote one price for the full 1,050.

The state colleges list it as a career certificate and translate the hours into credits and semesters. Eastern Florida State College shows 1,050 clock hours as 35 vocational credits, over two 20-week terms, Monday to Thursday on the Cocoa campus. Florida Gateway College and Pasco-Hernando State College also list 35 credits. College of Central Florida, Hillsborough Community College and Santa Fe College each describe it as three semesters. Santa Fe calls them contact hours instead of clock hours, but the count is the same 1,050.

The unit matters for one practical reason: state colleges run on semester calendars, so you usually start in fall (Eastern Florida starts each Fall Term) or at a semester break. Technical colleges often list their own start dates. Erwin’s next start is April 2027, for example.

What You Pay per Clock Hour

A few Florida schools price the program by the hour, which makes the model easy to see.

• Robert Morgan Educational Center in Miami charges $2.56 per hour in-state, plus application, ID, material and insurance fees.
• Wilton Simpson Technical College charges $2.44 per program hour in-state, with fees extra.
• Lively Technical College in Tallahassee lists resident tuition at $2.92 per hour for 1,050 hours, which it totals at $3,066. Lab fees of $2,000 and other charges come on top.

Most other technical colleges fold the hours, lab fees and supplies into a single full-program number. For every school’s total, and why two quotes for the same 1,050 hours can differ by thousands, see how much welding school costs in Florida.

After 1,050: The 750-Hour Advanced Certificate

The 1,050-hour program is the base. Ten Florida schools list a second certificate of 750 clock hours, usually called Welding Technology - Advanced, that you take after it:

• First Coast Technical College, St. Augustine: 750 hours over 24 weeks by day, quoted at $6,694.39.
• Florida Gateway College, Lake City: 750 clock hours, listed as 25 additional credits.
• Hillsborough Community College, Tampa.
• Lake Technical College, Eustis, which also offers a 360-hour Aluminum Welding and Fabrication certificate.
• North Florida Technical College, Starke.
• Orange Technical College-South Campus, Orlando.
• Pinellas Technical College-Clearwater.
• Robert Morgan Educational Center, Miami.
• Tom P. Haney Technical College, Panama City.
• Withlacoochee Technical College, Inverness.

College of Central Florida, Pasco-Hernando State College, Santa Fe College and Daytona State College also list an advanced welding certificate, though they express its length differently. Daytona’s is a limited-access program.

The advanced certificate suits you if you want more booth time in pipe and harder positions before you test, or if the base program left you short of the certifications you’re after.

Programs That Don’t Use the 1,050-Hour Model

A handful of Florida schools build their programs around months instead of clock hours.

• Daytona State College runs a shorter Welding Technology - Applied certificate: 725 clock hours (24.17 vocational credits), typically two semesters or 30 weeks.
• Tulsa Welding School-Jacksonville lists Professional Welding Training at 7 months, a Welding and Pipefitting program at 9.5 months and an Associate of Occupational Studies at 14 months, with morning, afternoon and evening classes.
• Universal Technical Institute in Miramar lists Welding Technology at 9 to 10 months.
• Southern Technical College in Orlando offers an 18-month Associate of Applied Science in Welding Technology, the only associate degree among the Orlando-area schools here.

These suit you if you want a degree, a pipefitting add-on or a start date the public calendar doesn’t offer.

What the Hours Prepare You to Test for

Finishing 1,050 hours earns you the school’s certificate. The American Welding Society tests are separate, and Florida schools handle them in different ways.

First Coast Technical College prepares you for the AWS D1.1 structural test in SMAW plate in the 3G and 4G positions, pipe in 6G, or flux-core plate. Manatee Technical College lists AWS Certified Welder tests in SMAW plate 3G and 4G plus GMAW, FCAW and GTAW plate 3G. Lake Technical College and Fred K Marchman Technical College say their instruction covers 140 of the 143 AWS weld types. Pasco-Hernando and Santa Fe run AWS-accredited testing on campus.

The welding certification guide explains what each test proves to an employer.

Choosing Your Florida Program by the Calendar

Start with the hours you can give each week, then pick the school.

• You can train full-time by day: Florida State College at Jacksonville (8 months), Manatee in Bradenton (about 9 months) or Marion in Ocala (about 32 weeks). Compare Ocala options on the Ocala welding schools page.
• You work days: Wilton Simpson, Robert Morgan and Miami Lakes run evenings, and Indian River and Erwin keep their night tracks close to the day length. See the Tampa welding schools page and the Miami welding schools page.
• You want the most training before you test: plan for 1,050 hours plus the 750-hour advanced certificate at First Coast, Lake Tech or Hillsborough. Around Orlando, the Orlando welding schools page lists the Orange Technical College campuses.
• You’re in the Panhandle or North Florida: Tom P. Haney in Panama City and Lively in Tallahassee both run the full 1,050 hours. See the Tallahassee welding schools page.

When you finish, Florida welders earned a median of $50,640 in May 2025. The welder career page covers the work, the pipe welder page covers where the advanced hours can lead, and what welders make in Florida breaks pay down by metro. To compare every program side by side, start with the best welding schools in Florida.

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