OverviewAdmissionsProgramsCostsOutcomesClassroomSafetyHousingServicesStudent BodySchool Finances
Overview
North American Trade Schools is in a large suburb with more than 250,000 residents. It is in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson MD area.
Highlights
Undergraduate program with the highest reported starting salary ($40K): Ground Transportation
Largest undergraduate program (194): Truck and Bus Driver/Commercial Vehicle Operator and Instructor
Institutional Control
North American Trade Schools is a private for-profit organization.
Fewer details
Accreditation
Accreditation provides important oversight over a school's instructional practices and institutional stability.
North American Trade Schools holds an accreditation from one of the national accreditors. Credits earned from the national accreditors are often not accepted by schools holding the more prestigious regional accreditation, and it's important to verify that your credits will transfer if you are considering an eventual switch to another school.
Accreditation History
Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (Accredited December 27, 1987 - present)
- The next accreditation review was scheduled for May 31, 2018.
Undergraduate Students
Not all students attend their first college full time to completion. While some schools are focused on those that population, many schools focus on transfer and or part time students. What types of of student does this school support.
Admissions
Open Admissions
North American Trade Schools is an open admissions school and accepts any student who applies.
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Admissions Details
Here are some important dates and little tidbits. Please double-check this information on the North American Trade Schools's webpage for the most up-to-date and accurate answers! We update this information with each school's annual reporting, but information can change unexpectedly. Select any item to view the details.
Admissions Criteria & Qualifications
Application Fee & Common App
Credits accepted from new students
Programs
North American Trade Schools program offerings
What award level are you pursuing?
0-1 Year Certificate
Select a degree to see the details, or use the sankey below to explore the options.
Select a degree
Career
Costs
Current Program Costs
Schools report total costs for (up to) their six largest career-oriented programs. You can explore the costs by selecting the "+" symbol for programs that interest you. The average months to complete apply to full-time students. Additionally, if program length is reported in contact hours, then the time literally represents time with an instructor. Alternatively, credit hours approximate instructional time, but are not inclusive of total time spent by students in learning.
The cost details offer you comparisons to the costs of similar programs available in your context group. However, schools offering similar programs often have slightly different times to complete, and therefore we have grouped all programs that are 6 or fewer months, over 6 to 12 months, over 12 to 18 months, and more than 18 months. You can find the other schools offering this program using our school explorer.
You will find the most up-to-date information at this school's website for admissions.
Building Construction Technology (10 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 6th largest program. On average, students take 10 months of full-time study to complete the required 1152 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Building Construction Technology certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Amount
$600
$18,603
Context: costs of similar programs
Diesel Mechanics Technology (10 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 1st largest program. On average, students take 10 months of full-time study to complete the required 1152 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Diesel Mechanics Technology certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Amount
$600
$18,064
Context: costs of similar programs
Electrician (10 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 4th largest program. On average, students take 10 months of full-time study to complete the required 1152 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Electrician certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Amount
$600
$18,401
Context: costs of similar programs
Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician (10 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 3rd largest program. On average, students take 10 months of full-time study to complete the required 1152 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Amount
$600
$18,418
Context: costs of similar programs
Truck and Bus Driver/Commercial Vehicle Operator and Instructor (3 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 2nd largest program. On average, students take 3 months of full-time study to complete the required 320 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Truck and Bus Driver/Commercial Vehicle Operator and Instructor certificate programs within the context schools that take 6 months or fewer to complete.
Expense type
Tuition and fees
Amount
$4,975
Context: costs of similar programs
Welding Technology/Welder (9 Months)
This program is North American Trade Schools's 5th largest program. On average, students take 9 months of full-time study to complete the required 864 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Welding Technology/Welder certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Amount
$600
$14,606
Context: costs of similar programs
Area living cost estimates
The following cost of living estimates apply to this school's largest program and should reflect the cost for an academic year. We would expect that these costs of living estimates would be uniform across programs, and we additionally recommend that you double-check the estimates through a different source. We found that schools have wildly different estimates of living expenses within the same areas.
Expense type
Miscellaneous costs when living off campus with family
Miscellaneous costs when living off campus without family
Off-campus room and board
Amount
$2,000
$2,000
$7,000
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Historic Costs by Program
You can explore the programs and corresponding lengths and costs offered over the past ten years using the drop-down menu below the graph. The programs only appear if they were one of the six largest programs offered that year. All dollar amounts have been adjusted for inflation.
Program and length
Building Construction Technology (10 months)
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Not so much?
Net price: the best estimate for the cost to attend
Most schools publish tuition rates that give them room to offer both scholarships and financial aid where applicable. Your best estimate of what might pay is to see what others with similar family incomes have paid. A more tailored and accurate estimate is available at this school's net price calculator.
Understanding net price
With their net price calculators, many colleges and universities give an idea of what merit-based aid might accompany need-based aid. For schools that share such data, we also provide financial aid data in the Finanical Aid sections.
There are some caveats to consider when using the net price estimates:
- The net price calculation is weighted by this school's proportion of students living on- and off-campus and this school's estimate of off-campus costs, which may cause the net price methodology be a bit inconsistent from school to school.
- Parental income and student financial aid eligibility is sometimes more complicated than the simple family income number reported here.
- The net price calculation for all students is inclusive of students who received any institutional or government aid, but at the family income levels the net price only considers the tuition paid by those who qualified for federal aid.
You can get a little better guess at what you would pay by using this school's net price calculator.
Percentage of students receiving any aid
The donut, based on 540 full-time first-time degree seeking students at North American Trade Schools, shows the percentage of those who received any financial aid (including merit-based scholarships), subdivided by family income.
Aid type and family income
Federal: $0-30K
Federal: $30K-48K
Federal: $48K-75K
Federal: $75K-110K
Federal: Above $110K
Only institutional
Net price by family income
All Incomes
Let's look over the past few years at what freshmen who received any financial aid actually paid for tuition, fees, books, and living expenses on average, and how that compares to the tuition usually paid for other private universities in your context group. Public universities only report net price for in-state students.
Find your net price estimate: nats.netlify.com...
Outcomes
Graduation Rate
All undergraduate students are full-time. In the last reporting year, 81% of full-time first-time students received a degree within 150% of the expected time for completion.
Time to complete
On time
50% more time
Context: Graduation rate
These numbers reflect the percentage of full-time first-time students who graduate with a 2-year degree or certificate within 3 years.
Loan Status
This donut shows the percentage of students who are in good standing (green) in repaying any federal student loans five years after leaving North American Trade Schools.
Status of loans
Currently paying
Suspended (usually for hardship)
More than 90 days late in paying
In default
Not released due to privacy
Another status not released
Context: Loans with good standing
About 94% of the context schools have better performance, suggesting that North American Trade Schools's alumni earnings-to-debt ratios are low compared to the context schools' alumni.
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Context and trends: Repayment Rate
How much progress do you think you'll be able to make towards paying down your college loans seven years after leaving school? In our research, we discovered that a surprisingly large number of students don't default on their loans, but also aren't making progress in paying down their principal amount. The percentages here count alumni who have decreased their loan amounts by at least $1.
Years after leaving school.
7
5
3
Context and trends: are the loan default rates as small as possible?
The default rate is the percentage of students who are already delinquent on their loans within three years of leaving the school. If a school has a high default rate, that sends an alarm out that the students' educations are not sufficient to earn enough to repay those loans. Read below for details on the typical loan burden, and keep in mind that a low default rate may be more important than loan amounts in predicting your future success.
Loan burden
At North American Trade Schools, 97% of full-time degree-seeking freshmen receive federal student loans, averaging $6,784 each in just the freshman year. We have much more details about the full loan burden students experience in our Cost and Financial Aid Section.
Context: Percentage of freshmen with federal loans
Context: Average freshman federal loan amount
Not so much?
Classroom Experience
Student attention at North American Trade Schools
Schools are required to report the ratio of students per instructor, but look for a small number of students for every full-time instructor as your best indicator of personal attention and a modern well-integrated curriculum.
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Full-time and long-term instructors at North American Trade Schools
Full-time faculty are mostly likely to be on campus and available for interaction, and to craft up-to-date courses and programs. North American Trade Schools has 78% full-time instructors, and 77% of the context schools have a lower percentage of full-time faculty. Faculty with multi-year contracts provide additional stability and commitment to the school and its students.Within the full-time instructors at North American Trade Schools, none have multi-year employment contracts. Of the context schools, only 31% have instructors with multi-year contracts.
Full-time instructors
Long-term instructors
Campus Safety
Disciplinary actions and crime at North American Trade Schools
Check out the number of disciplinary actions (implemented within the school) and arrests (implemented by law enforcement external to the school)
Disciplinary Actions
Liquor Violations
Drug Violations
Weapon Possessions
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Context: Disciplinary Actions
Average number of disciplinary violoations at North American Trade Schools as a percentage of students compared to all of the schools in the comparison group.
Context: Arrests
Average number of arrests at North American Trade Schools as a percentage of students compared to all of the schools in the comparison group.
Criminal Offenses
Burglaries/Robberies
Sex Offenses
Vehicle Thefts
Aggrevated Assaults
Context: Criminal Offenses
Average number of criminal offenses at North American Trade Schools as a percentage of students compared to all of the schools in the comparison group.
Housing
Activities and Services
Undergraduate services offered
- Academic/career counseling services
- Employment services for current students
- Placement services for program completers
Programs for Veterans
If you are a veteran, it's worth digging around to find a military-friendly campus. We think this article about how colleges might help veterans might be a good starting point for questions to ask the Admissions office before you choose to attend. It's also good to be aware that many for-profit schools are behaving as predators, hungry for GI Bill dollars. Watching out for those schools is no different for veterans than for all students: judge very critically using our "Student Satisfaction and Success" tab for undergraduate programs. We wish we had the same data to support graduate programs; however, we think the undergraduate data is a good starting point for judging overall quality.
- Credit for Military Training
- Yellow Ribbon Program
Student Body
Study Types
All students are full-time. No students take distance education courses.
Full-time
Online classes
Context: Student body size
North American Trade Schools enrolled 655 students over the past academic year. The the student body size is near the middle of the context schools.
Undergraduate student gender
Is the gender balance of North American Trade Schools students important to you? You can see the breakdown in this donut chart.
Gender
Men
Women
Undergraduate student race/origin
North American Trade Schools reports that 55% of students are minority, which is near the middle of the context schools. Similarly, this school's 0 of international students is near the middle proportion of international students within the context schools.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Multiracial
Not Reported
Fewer details
Context: Gender Balance
It is very difficult for many types of schools to achieve a gender balance, and this context is valuable in evaluating the balance at North American Trade Schools.
Context: Percentage of women
North American Trade Schools is a single-sex institution.
Context: Student race/origin
Here is how North American Trade Schools compares to the rest of the context group in terms of diversity in the student race and origin.
Freshman residences
A high proportion of international and out-of-state students speaks to reputation and offers an opportunity for diverse interactions in and out of class.
Freshman residence
In-state
Out-of-state
International
Not Reported
Student age distribution
The age distribution at a school can tell you a lot about its mission. If you're looking for a traditional undergraduate experience, you may prefer to see students who are mostly younger than 25 (lighter shades), but if you want support as a returning student, a large number of students 25 and older (darker shades) may better suit your needs.
Age range
18-19
20-21
22-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-49
50-64
School Finances
North American Trade Schools: What its budget can tell you about classroom quality
Where a school spends and collects its money can suggest a lot about the educational experience it offers. The tabs below offer a look at spending that is important for the quality of your experience if you attend.
Instructional spending
Student services spending
Context and trends: Instructional expenditures per student
Instructional expenses are primarily the salary and benefits paid to the heart of a school: its full-time instructors. High expenditures in this area suggest care in hiring enough highly qualified full-time faculty to provide personal attention and up-to-date subject-area excellence.
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Does incoming revenue consistently cover expenses?
North American Trade Schools is a private for-profit school, meaning that its annual goal is to make a profit for its shareholders. The other types of schools are public or not-for-profit, and profit is not a goal.
Total revenue and expenses by category
We divided revenue and expenses for North American Trade Schools into categories to give some insight to what may have influenced peaks and ditches in the chart above. The purple shades correspond most directly to student education. The blue shades, auxiliary expenses and revenue, are often related to room and board. We show investment gains and losses in apricot.
Investment gains
Auxiliary revenue
Tuition and fees revenue
Government appropriations etc.
Educational sales revenue
Other revenue
Auxilliary expenses
Instructional expenses
Student services expenses
Academic & instructional support, student services expenses
Academic support expenses
Institutional support expenses
