Commercial diving schools in the USA, compared

The comparison table

Every figure below comes from a primary source: the school's own published page, the US Department of Education's College Navigator, the VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool, or ADCI's recognised-schools page. Where a school doesn't publish something, the table says so. We haven't estimated anything.

*ADCI "Recognized Schools" page as of 28 September 2026. Accreditation for Ocean Corp, DIT, SBCC and SLCC from College Navigator; cost sources are linked in each school's section below. ADCI recognised schools

Two more US programmes appear on ADCI's list but aren't open enrolment in the usual sense: the Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Dive Training Center in Sicklerville, New Jersey (a carpenters' training centre), and the Leonard Greenstone Marine Technology Training Center in Chino, California, whose listed contact is at the California Prison Industry Authority. Ask them directly about eligibility.

How to read accreditation (it's three different things)

Schools use "accredited" loosely. For a US diving school, it can mean three separate things, and they answer different questions.

1. Institutional accreditation

This is accreditation of the school as a whole, by an agency recognised by the US Department of Education. For the schools above, those agencies are ACCSC (Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges), COE (Council on Occupational Education), ACCJC (for California community colleges) and SACSCOC (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools). Institutional accreditation is what allows federal student aid, and it's what College Navigator and the Department of Education's DAPIP database record.

2. ADCI school recognition

This is the industry's check. ADCI's entry-level tender/diver card goes to divers who have completed "at least 625 documented hours of formal instruction in accordance with the ANSI/ACDE-01-2015 Standards, or a recognized equivalent" (ADCI classification requirements). ADCI member companies need their divers to hold a card "reflective of the assigned tasks", obtained within 90 days of employment (ADCI certifications). A school on ADCI's list is the simplest route to that first card.

3. The training standard: ANSI/ACDE-01

ANSI/ACDE-01-2015 is the American National Standard for entry-level commercial diver training. It sets the syllabus, minimum hours per section, instructor experience and facilities, with a floor of 625 hours of formal instruction (standard text, PDF). A school can meet this standard and still lack institutional accreditation, or the other way round.

School by school

Ocean Corporation (Houston, Texas)

A 30-week commercial diving programme with classes Monday to Friday in morning or afternoon shifts. The school says students work on wet and dry welding and "earn certifications in underwater welding in accordance with AWS D3.6M". The syllabus also covers mixed gas, bell and saturation procedures, and NDT (programme page). It's accredited by ACCSC, with the next review due in 2030. Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $24,500 in College Navigator; the VA record shows $24,000 (College Navigator).

Divers Institute of Technology (Seattle, Washington)

DIT publishes the most complete cost breakdown: $29,000 tuition ($32.22 per clock hour, so 900 hours), $5,850 for gear and physical, and a $48,800 total cost of attendance including housing and food. The intended length is 28 weeks. Graduates receive a DCBC unrestricted surface-supplied certification and an ADCI entry-level card with international endorsement (DIT cost page). It's accredited by ACCSC since 1972.

Professional Diver Training Center (Alvarado, Texas)

A compact full-time programme with a published price: 15 weeks, 700 hours, $21,994. Included certifications listed by the school: ADCI entry-level diver/tender card to ANSI/ACDE-01-2015 and an "Underwater Welding Course Completion Certificate (AWS D3.6M-Class C Standard)". The school reports 99% graduation and 97% placement for its 2025 COE reporting period. Those are the school's figures, not independently verified (programme page).

Florida Commercial Diving Institute (Hudson, Florida)

FCDI runs an Unrestricted Surface Supplied Diver programme covering "underwater welding and burning, rigging, salvage operations, inspection techniques", plus a shorter National Surface Supplied Diver track and an Underwater Burning Specialist course (FCDI programmes). The school doesn't publish tuition. The VA record lists $26,725 tuition and $3,265 for books, and shows no institutional accreditation (VA record). It is on ADCI's recognised list.

CDA Technical Institute (Jacksonville, Florida)

Formerly Commercial Diving Academy. It describes a 20-week commercial diver programme with an introduction to topside and underwater welding and a path to an AWS "Underwater Wet Welding Specialist" certification. Tuition isn't published. We could not find CDA in the VA Comparison Tool by name or confirm its accreditor, and it was not on ADCI's recognised list on 28 September 2026. Ask the school for its VA facility code, its accreditor and its ADCI status before you apply.

Commercial Divers International (Goodyear, Arizona)

CDI lists an ADCI entry-level card, surface-supplied air and mixed gas diving, and underwater welding and burning with an AWS D3.6M completion certificate. It also runs a military-only site at Fort Bliss, Texas. The school states: "We are not institutionally accredited, but our diving programs are accredited by the Association of Diving Contractors International". CDI did not appear on ADCI's recognised-schools page when we checked. College Navigator shows a 658-clock-hour programme at $26,150 for 2024–25, and a COE accreditation period that ended in April 2026 (College Navigator).

Santa Barbara City College, Marine Diving Technology (California)

The only West Coast public college programme on ADCI's list. The certificate takes two semesters; adding general education, drafting, biology and EMT gives an Associate of Science. It includes an ADCI entry-level card to ANSI/ACDE-01-2015, and teaches underwater welding and burning plus saturation and mixed gas theory (SBCC Marine Diving). Estimated fees for 2026–27: $1,852 for California residents and $12,330 out of state for the certificate, plus required equipment estimated at $400–800 (SBCC fee sheet).

South Louisiana Community College, Young Memorial campus (Morgan City)

A public college with a Certificate of Technical Studies in Commercial Diving, on ADCI's recognised list and accredited by SACSCOC (College Navigator). Morgan City is on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. We couldn't load the college's programme pages to verify hours and costs, so check them directly.

Minnesota Commercial Diver Training Center (Brainerd)

Eleven weeks, six days a week, ten hours a day, a schedule the school says was "set to meet ADCI's requirement of 625 hours". Tuition is $17,000. At present it only runs an Engineer Diver/Tender course for engineers and engineers in training. The general-public course may return (MCDTC).

Cost: what the sticker price leaves out

Tuition is only part of the bill. DIT's own budget shows the gap clearly:

Source: Divers Institute of Technology, Cost of Attendance, independent student living away from home. diversinstitute.edu

That's tuition plus roughly 68% on top. The dive physical alone is listed at $850 by DIT and $500–800 by SBCC. You'll also need personal gear, covered in our commercial diving school gear list, and months without income. The general picture, including how to read a quote, is in how much a commercial diving course costs.

Veterans can check each school's record in the VA tool. How the benefits work for diving school is explained in using the GI Bill for commercial diving school.

Outcomes data you can actually check

Placement claims are the hardest thing to compare, because each school counts differently. Here's what's available from outside the school's marketing:

Sources: VA GI Bill Comparison Tool records for Ocean Corporation, DIT and SBCC, checked 28 September 2026; school pages as linked above.

When a school quotes a placement rate, ask three questions: how many graduates were "available for placement" versus total enrolled, what counts as a job (any job, or diving work), and for how long the graduate had to stay employed. DIT publishes its denominators (227 graduates available, 204 employed), which makes its figure easier to judge.

Florida vs Texas vs the West Coast: where you train vs where you'll work

Choosing a school by location only makes sense if it helps you get your first job. The Gulf of Mexico is the centre of US offshore oil and gas, and the Houston and Morgan City schools are close to it. We explain that market in commercial diving in the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida schools (Hudson, Jacksonville) are within reach of Gulf and East Coast contractors. Seattle and Santa Barbara put you near West Coast port, bridge and marine construction work. Minnesota and Arizona are inland, closer to inland work: dams, intakes, bridges. The difference between those two worlds is in inland vs offshore diving and how inland diving works in the US.

The ADCI entry-level card is the same whichever recognised school issues it. Where you train matters most for the contacts you make during the course and how easily you can get to contractors afterwards.

Questions to ask before you pay a deposit

• Which agency accredits the institution, and when is the next review? (Check in College Navigator or DAPIP.)
• Are you on ADCI's recognised-schools list today? Will I leave with an ADCI entry-level card?
• What is the full cost: tuition, fees, gear, physical, housing? Is any of it refundable if I fail the medical?
• How many hours do students spend in the water, and how many of those are wet welding and cutting?
• What welding document do I get, against which code, edition and class? (See how underwater weld qualification works.)
• Does the VA tool show any caution flags? What's your VA facility code?
• Can I speak to three graduates from the last two years?

Before you choose, read what a new graduate's first job looks like in what a tender does. For the certificate landscape beyond the US (HSE, IMCA, DCBC), see commercial diving certifications compared.

Frequently asked questions