Technology in Collision and Auto Body Repair

How the price is built. Tuition is charged per credit — $228 per credit for this program, so 60 credits come to $13,680. The maintenance and improvement fee and the technology fee are $45 each per quarter. Books and materials are not included; the catalog estimates them at $200 to $400. The fee table also lists a $75 graduation fee, $10 student insurance and a $5 ID card. An increase in the credit price applies only to new enrollments and re-entries.

Financial aid. Mech-Tech participates in Title IV federal student aid: the Federal Pell Grant, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study, and Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized and Parent PLUS loans. It also takes part in the Puerto Rico Council of Education’s Students with Academic Talent grant (BETA) for eligible students with a GPA of 3.00 or higher. Start with the FAFSA at fafsa.gov using Mech-Tech’s school code 030255; eligibility is reviewed every year.

Paying the balance. At enrollment students sign a payment plan to pay any balance not covered by aid in three installments each term, finishing a month before the term ends. The school’s Net Price Calculator estimates the cost after aid.

Veterans. Mech-Tech is approved by the Puerto Rico State Approving Agency to train students under GI Bill® programs; the catalog notes that veterans’ enrollment is offered at the Caguas and Vega Baja campuses.

The catalog prepares graduates for positions such as collision repair technician, installer and repairer of automobile window panes, paint technician, welder, metal fabricator, racing team technician, investigator of used parts, maintenance of yachts, furniture and articles, and valuer for insurance companies.

Licensing. The catalog states that Puerto Rico’s Automotive Technicians and Automotive Mechanics Examining Board requires graduates of this program to take the board exam for Automotive Mechanic or Automotive Mechanic Technician.

This page quotes no job placement rate; Mech-Tech publishes its consumer information, including student right-to-know disclosures, on mechtech.edu.

Mech-Tech College received its operating license in July 1984 and began operating that September in Caguas, founded to train technicians in metals, electricity and mechanics and later in electronics and refrigeration. It now teaches at five Puerto Rico campuses — Caguas, Vega Baja, Bayamón, Mayagüez and Ponce — and runs a branch in Orlando, Florida as Mech-Tech Institute.

Programs pair theory with shop and laboratory practice. Academic courses are grouped at 20 to 30 students and laboratory courses at 15 to 20. Students wear the program uniform and buy their own textbooks and materials, which the catalog estimates at $200 to $400 depending on the program. For programs that lead to a license, Mech-Tech runs an exam review at the end of the program.

Instruction at the Puerto Rico campuses is in Spanish. The catalog notes that completing a program in a language other than English may reduce employability where English is required.

Technology in Collision and Auto Body Repair is offered at Caguas, Vega Baja and Mayagüez:

• Caguas, the main campus, has twenty-two classrooms, twenty laboratory classrooms, a tool room and a library, with parking and 24-hour security; a Special Use Facility in Caguas holds Collision and Auto Body Repair courses.
• Vega Baja has seven classrooms, twenty laboratory classrooms, a tool room, two computer laboratories and a library, with an elevator, parking and 24-hour security.
• Mayagüez, in a 33,000 square foot building in the Guanajibo Industrial Zone, has seven laboratory classrooms, six classrooms and 24-hour security, plus an auxiliary building with a collision repair laboratory and tool room.