There aren’t many institutions that teach CATIA. There are tech schools like the one I attended, but most do not add the course to their curriculum.

And the costs are always high to get a measly certificate. Here is an example of Savannah Technical College’s course to gain a CATIA TECHNICIAN certificate and the breakdown of cost:

• See picture, below, for classes required. 
• First off, it says minimum length of program as 3 semesters. I am quoting as 2 semesters, because I see no reason it needs to be 3 unless there is a semester between possible CATIA classes, but I believe this has changed. 
• Semester 1: DTFG 1101, DTFG 1130
• 9 credit hours 
• Tuition = $1,965
• Semester 2: DTFG 1140, Elective (3hr)
• 9 credit hours 
• Tuition = $1,965
• Graduation Fee $35 (I think I had to pay this, even though I didn’t walk) & you practically have to beg them to get a physical copy of your educational awards!
• Books: they use teaching books now, more on this below. Estimate $100/semester. 
• 18 credit hours total
• Total cost = 2($1,965 + $100) + $35
• 1 certificate = $4,165

There are two available tax credits to assist, but that only helps repayment by 1,000/yr. 

This is extremely problematic for most working adults who do not meet eligibility requirements for financial aid. And for those like me, who have exhausted their aid already, it comes out the pocket anyhow. 

And it takes six long months. Where you have to take an elective and a non-CATIA class (likely SolidWorks, Inventor, or AutoCAD). The elective requirement is total bullshit & taking 1 class of a different program only leads to confusion and waste of resources. Without those 2 extra nonsensical classes, the course could be 11 credit hours over two semesters for $2,345. The classroom time is 8hr/wk x 32 weeks = 256 hours. 

• $2,345 divided by 256 ~$9.16/hr

Compared to the current scheme (calculated for CATIA class hours – none of the b.s.):

• $4,165 / 256 ~ $16.27/hr
• Extra time for b.s. classes could easily be 80 hours. 
• There’s a ton of wasted money and time in there. 

Then the teaching method uses books to walk you step by step. This concept proves useless if you watch the students do their work. 

Four student types:

• The students who are not gifted with an engineer’s mindset are the only ones who excel with these books because they don’t need to figure anything out by themselves and would struggle badly without. These people will likely never get an engineering position and are just wasting all our time anyway. 
• The next step up are the students who have at least basic knowledge of mechanical ability and ask too many questions. These do fair with the books, because the answers to often-asked questions are written. They may get there foot into engineering, but not aerospace, let’s be honest. They will never use CATIA again – waste of time. 
• This group is nearly the same as the 2nd, but they do not ask questions unless there is a challenge that they cannot surpass after trying several options. The book frustrates them because there is only one solution that makes sense to use and that solution is only offered at the end. And they hate how it shows you the wrong way to do things, they only want the correct way. They don’t like the book, they see its faults. They have a good chance at an engineering job, and may see work in aerospace. 
• The last group are the ones who will be in aerospace as soon as they graduate. They would never look at the book and would be offended that you asked them to buy such a silly book that was poorly written and designed. They either:

1. help the slow students then quickly do their own
2. storm through their work and then help the slow ones
3. take their time with the assignment-attempting various strategies to solve the puzzle
4. skip the work entirely – helping students – up until the deadline – then slam through the assignments one after another like a lunatic (my tactic)

If my observations are incorrect, I would be shocked. That book is a total waste of time. 

I did just do a search, finding one business (which I emailed, hoping for some mentorship – maybe he’ll checkout my blog for character witness) and their course runs between $800 & $1,100. Looks to be a basic online introduction course. 

That is reasonable, but still wouldn’t beat learning from the guy who lives in your hometown, who has experience working for the local aerospace companies and can offer hourly rates to fill his schedule. Dropping a chunk of 1,000 is less doable than 20 or 50 bucks a week for 1 on 1 training. However, my idea is for a small setup, for my own pleasure. 

But the big problem still remains: CATIA LICENSING is expensive. All I want is the base package: sketcher, part design, and surfacing. Educational versions are offered for students, not sure for teaching, nor am I sure if you must be an actual institution to grant those titles, to get the option. 

I’ve always heard CATIA runs around 50k/yr for one license, but that is basically hearsay as it’s difficult to find information. Especially for a single (or 2) license. 

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