HVAC Technician

Merryfield publishes one admissions standard for every programme, and reproduces it on each programme page. It is short, and there is no entrance examination.

The academy also publishes what happens after you enrol — a re-admission policy, a course-cancellation policy and a statement that records are kept for one year for any applicant denied entry. Those are summarised under “What to expect” below.

36 weeks — nine months — for 40.5 quarter credit hours. The academy publishes the length in weeks and months and the size in quarter credits, and does not publish a clock-hour figure for this programme. None is shown here, because converting credits to clock hours would be a guess.

Day and evening classes are both available. Day classes run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Evening classes run Monday to Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The academy publishes those hours for the campus as a whole rather than per programme, and does not publish which schedule this programme runs on in a given term.

Hybrid. The academy classifies the modality as hybrid, meaning part of the instruction is delivered online and the lab work is on campus. It does not publish which courses or how many hours are online, so no split is given here.

Start dates. Merryfield does not publish a start-date calendar on its site. Its ACCSC charts for other programmes show monthly class starts, which suggests rolling starts, but that is an inference about other programmes and is not asserted for this one.

Tuition $14,985. Equipment and books $1,000. Total $15,985. That is the academy’s own tuition table, reproduced exactly; the three numbers reconcile.

The academy’s “School’s Rate” sentence does not cover this programme, and should not be read as if it did. That sentence on the tuition page quotes per-clock-hour rates for the grooming, teeth scaling and massage programmes — rates which do not match those programmes’ own tuition figures either — and then gives $362 per quarter credit hour for a “Medical Assistant Program” that appears nowhere else on the site. None of it applies here.

Merryfield does not publish a per-credit rate for this programme. $14,985 over 40.5 quarter credits works out at $370 per quarter credit, but that is arithmetic done here, not a published rate, and it is not what the school charges by. The only per-quarter-credit figure the academy publishes — $362 — is attached to a Medical Assistant programme that no longer exists on the site.

Buy nothing until you are approved for admission. The academy says so on its tuition page. Tuition is due in full on or before your start date unless special financial arrangements are made.

Federal student aid. Merryfield participates in the Title IV programmes. Its financial aid page links the FAFSA, FSA ID creation, loan-debt lookup and exit counselling, and the MPN and entrance counselling, all at studentaid.gov. It publishes a CARES Act grant disclosure and a separate financial aid policies and procedures manual.

The academy does not publish a FAFSA school code on its website, and none is recorded here. Its federal OPE ID is 04227500.

Private financing exists and the academy is unusually blunt about it. An independent finance company is under contract to lend to students who qualify. Merryfield states in its own words that this is not a government-sponsored entitlement, that eligibility is solely at the lender’s discretion, that the school has no influence on the application whatsoever, and that the borrower must repay the loan with all interest. Loan terms are given in writing, signed and dated, at origination.

The 60 per cent rule, and what happens to your kit. Every student receiving financial aid must attend at least 60 per cent — or 180 hours — of the first payment period to be fully eligible. Equipment is handed over on orientation day. The academy states that a student who drops out without meeting that attendance threshold and intentionally keeps the equipment will be reported to police for grand theft. That is the academy’s published wording, and it is the sharpest sentence on the site; it is reproduced because it is a real condition of enrolment.

Buying your equipment. Pell recipients may decline the school’s arrangement and buy from an outside vendor, but must notify Merryfield before the start date. Non-Pell students may buy from the school — there is a “Monthly pay to own” plan — or from a vendor. Equipment is left at the school at the end of each class and is inspected. If you stop attending you may pay the balance and keep it; the academy also writes that if the balance is paid the equipment “will be forfeited back to the school”, which contradicts the sentence before it. Used equipment is non-refundable.

Withdrawal. Merryfield says its refund policy complies with Fair Consumer Practices and that refunds follow a published schedule if a student is terminated or cancels for any reason. If you stop attending, the school is required to run a Return to Title IV calculation. The schedule itself is in the catalog rather than on the site.

No application fee is published anywhere on the site, and none is recorded here. There is no registration fee, STRF-style state fee or kit surcharge on the tuition table either — the table is tuition, equipment and books, and the total.

$15,985 in total — $14,985 tuition plus $1,000 equipment and books, exactly as published on the academy's own tuition table.

The academy’s stated objective for this programme is entry-level employment as a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration or shop service technician. Its own FAQ names HVAC installer, service technician and maintenance technician in residential, commercial or industrial settings.

EPA Section 608 is the gate, and the programme prepares you for it. Federal law requires Section 608 certification to maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment containing regulated refrigerants, and suppliers will not sell you refrigerant without it. Preparation is part of the programme.

There is no graduation or employment figure for this programme yet. Merryfield publishes ACCSC Graduation and Employment Charts — seven of them, reported July 2025 — for Professional Pet Grooming, Pet Grooming with Anesthetic Free Teeth Scaling, Anesthetic Free Teeth Scaling and Massage Therapy. None covers HVAC. That is expected for a recently added programme, and it means the completion and placement record you can check for the academy’s grooming programmes does not exist for this one. Ask for it before you enrol; when a chart is published it will be the honest number.

The academy says it offers career services — résumé help, interview preparation and connections with local employers — and points to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the trade’s outlook. It makes no placement guarantee, and none is made here.

Curriculum breadth matters for where you can work. Residential air conditioning, heating, heat pumps and two refrigeration courses including commercial chillers and cooling towers is a wider spread than a residential-only programme, and it is what lets a graduate apply to commercial as well as residential employers.

A trade programme in a building full of animals and massage tables. The HVAC classroom and lab share a 16,000 square foot campus with two grooming labs, a teeth scaling lab, an allied health lab and a massage therapy suite. It is worth knowing before you visit; it is not what most HVAC schools look like.

Hands-on with live equipment. The academy describes watching the sequence of operation of a live heating unit, diagnosing faults on residential equipment in the lab, and lab simulations aimed at what field technicians do. Its own FAQ puts it as “a mix of both” — classroom instruction plus hands-on training on real equipment.

Academic standards are published and are not nominal. A 2.0 cumulative grade point average, an attendance requirement, and completion within the Satisfactory Academic Progress time frame are all conditions of graduation.

One campus, and it is bigger than the programme list suggests. Merryfield occupies a 16,000 square foot facility on a one-acre site at 5040 NE 13th Ave. in east Fort Lauderdale. It holds two grooming labs, a dedicated teeth scaling lab, an allied health lab, a fully equipped massage therapy suite, a library and resource area with videos, video equipment and tablets for independent study, and a flexible event space used for guest seminars and workshops.

The academy publishes a student-to-teacher ratio of 15:1, with additional instructors available when needed, and says its faculty are working in the industries they teach. Administrative staff have, by the academy’s account, over 100 years of combined experience in school administration.

A note on the address. The academy gives its city as Fort Lauderdale, and that is what is recorded here. Its own ACCSC Graduation and Employment Charts give the city as Oakland Park at the same street address and the same 33334 zip. Both are correct in the ordinary Broward County sense — the zip straddles the boundary — but if you are searching a state or federal database, try both.

Hours. Day classes run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Evening classes run Monday to Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Transfer credit runs one way, and Merryfield says so twice. The academy does not accept credit earned at other institutions, has entered into no articulation or transfer agreement with any other institution, and grants no credit for prior experiential learning. It also publishes the standard warning that whether anyone else accepts its diploma is entirely that institution’s decision. If a credential that transfers matters to you, settle it before enrolling.

Veterans are handled separately. VA students must report all previous post-secondary education and training; the school must obtain and evaluate official transcripts from every institution attended and grant appropriate credit, with training time shortened and tuition reduced proportionately, and notify the veteran. That is a genuine exception to the no-transfer-credit rule above and applies only to VA students.

Re-admission is a judgement call, and there is a six-month clock on the price. If you drop out and want to return, the Director evaluates why you left and decides; a student dismissed as a threat to the school, its students or its staff will not be re-admitted. You resubmit the Admissions Questionnaire. Re-enrol within six months of the drop date and you keep your original tuition price; after six months you pay any increase. The academy also says that difficulty lifting pets or standing may prompt further evaluation of a re-entry.

If a course is cancelled, credit is given as soon as the school reopens. Records are retained for one year for anyone denied entry.

Bilingual. The site runs in English and Spanish, and the HVAC programme is described as bilingual.