Financial Aid Options for Automotive Technical School

If you'd like to turn your love of cars into a rewarding career, automotive technical school is something you should consider. A December 2023 TechForce analysis reported that the U.S. technical service industry needs 795,000 new automotive and aviation technicians by 2027 to keep pace with demand. Those numbers signal strong opportunity for those with the right training.

Technical school is the ideal place to develop the skills employers need. Also known as vocational school or trade school, automotive technical schools provide hands-on educational programs that develop targeted occupational skills.

These schools are striking the right chord with students seeking practical alternatives to college. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center documented a 16% increase in vocational program enrollments from 2022 to 2023. That strong growth has continued into this year with no signs of slowing down.

If you're thinking of joining the 812,000 students already enrolled in trade school, you may want to consider financing. This guide explains everything you need to know about financial aid for technical school so you can focus on finding the right program instead of worrying about how you're going to pay for it.

How much does technical school cost?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, students in mechanic and repair technology programs paid an average of $4,474 in tuition and required fees in 2020. Automotive tech degree and diploma programs typically extend across one or two academic years, bringing total average costs into the range of about $4,500–$9,000.

Remember: these figures only reflect tuition costs. Depending on the school you attend, you may face other costs including:

• Relocation
• Books and other learning materials
• Computer equipment and software
• Lab fees
• Transportation and parking

Unless you live at home with your parents while you study, you'll also have to budget for housing and food. These expenses will likely eclipse your tuition costs by a wide margin.

To estimate your total costs, you can use this Living Wage Calculator to access accurate cost-of-living data for the city or state where you plan to study.

Financial aid for technical school: 5 options explained

You have lots of options for meeting the costs of attending mechanic school. However, some of them involve taking on debt — and that's something you should avoid if you can.

To that end, education finance experts recommend that you secure as much non-repayable financial aid as possible before considering loans. These options include:

• Scholarships and grants
• Gifts or loans from parents and relatives
• Personal savings and employment income

If you still need money after raising as much as you can through these avenues, you can then turn to federal or private loans.

Let's take a closer look at each of these five options:

Scholarships and grants

Scholarships are an ideal source of funding, since they provide financial awards that do not require repayment. These popular scholarship search portals have a multitude of options for trade school students:

• CareerOneStop
• Fastweb
• Peterson's 
• Scholarships.com
• The Scholarship System

These resources are a good place to start your search, but you'll likely face heavy competition for a limited number of available awards. One way to overcome that hurdle is to check with the automotive technical school you plan to attend, since trade schools often maintain internal scholarship programs exclusively for their own students.

You can also look for individual funding opportunities offered by corporate and private donors. In 2022, Old World Industries launched the PEAK Performance Scholarships program in tandem with the American Trucking Association's Technology and Maintenance Council. The program offers two annual scholarships, each valued at up to $12,500. 

Our page for emerging auto technicians also has links to several other scholarships and grants for trade school students.

Gifts or loans from parents and relatives

Families typically shoulder a significant portion of postsecondary education costs. According to the 2024 edition of Sallie Mae's annual How America Pays for College report, out-of-pocket contributions from family members cover 48% of the average student's education spending.

Many factors — most notably household income levels — determine how much support parents can offer their children. You should certainly explore gifts and loans from family members, but keep your expectations realistic.

Personal savings and employment income

If you have personal savings, tapping into them is a wiser financial move than taking out an interest-bearing loan. Try to pace your spending across the academic year to get the maximum possible mileage out of your money.

You can also work while you study and use your income to cover some of your educational expenses. This can get tricky if you're a full-time student, but many technical schools offer part-time enrollment options that create a more favorable balance.

Studying part time extends your graduation timeline and delays your workforce entry, and these factors can both have financial impacts. However, part-time schooling can still work out to your advantage if it helps you reduce or avoid long-term, interest-bearing debt.

Federal loans

If funding shortfalls remain after you have exhausted all your non-repayable options, federal student loans are the next place you should look. Federal education funding programs offer borrower-friendly repayment and debt management terms, making them a better option than private loans.

To start, seek out Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loans. The Department of Education (ED) operates these popular loan programs, which provide vital funding to millions of students.

The ED also operates other, more specialized loan programs for which you may be eligible. However, you can only get federal loan funding if you attend a school accredited by an organization the ED recognizes. Before you commit to any trade school, use this ED tool to confirm the school is properly accredited.

Private loans

If you still need some money to fill funding gaps after exploring every other possible avenue, you can get a private education loan. Private lenders generally attach fewer restrictions and conditions to the funds they offer, but they tend to charge higher interest rates. Their repayment terms are also less flexible.

For these reasons, it's best to keep your borrowing from private lenders to an absolute minimum. If you need private funding, start with large and reputable providers like Sallie Mae. Many national, regional, and local banks also offer student loans, as do specialized education lenders.

Fill out your FAFSA form

When you accept an offer of admission from a trade school, you should immediately submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. By doing this, the Department of Education will automatically consider you for every loan, scholarship, and grant program for which you're eligible.

By submitting a FAFSA form, you can gain access to Federal Pell Grants. These valuable grants are exclusively available to students with high financial needs, and can deliver up to $7,395 in non-repayable financial support.

Learn more about mechanic school and how to pay for it

PEAK Auto proudly supports automotive technical schools and the students who attend them. We're building a growing library of resources for trade school students, including information on the job outlook for automotive technical school grads and why you should consider technical school as a college alternative.

We've also created a dedicated portal for emerging auto technicians on our website, which includes direct links to funding programs and other vital resources that can help make your automotive trade school journey easier, more rewarding, and more successful.