About the guide
Sources, reporting periods and coverage
See the original education, career, workforce and credential sources behind Trade School Guides, with their scope and limitations.
This register includes imported datasets and official sources used for research or verification links. A source listed here is not a claim that its complete records are reproduced in our directory.
NCES · IPEDS
All eight families; federal-reporting institutions
- What the source provides
- UNITID; school name; address; control; coordinates; CIP6; award level; completions; distance-learning flag
- Important limits
- Historical reporting; does not cover every non-Title-IV provider or confirm current intake. Zero completions are not proof of closure.
- Source update pattern
- Annual; retain vintage
NCES / BLS · CIP
All eight families
- What the source provides
- CIP6, subject title, SOC6 occupation mappings
- Important limits
- Many-to-many mapping; not a guarantee of eligibility, employment or curriculum. Some codes have no match.
- Source update pattern
- Versioned taxonomy
US Department of Education · SCORECARD
Institutions and broad fields of study
- What the source provides
- Institutional cost; aid; completion; debt; earnings; cohort measures
- Important limits
- Mixed vintages; suppression and source cohorts retained. Field outcomes use OPEID6/CIP4/credential groups, not necessarily a particular campus or exact course. Earnings are not starting pay.
- Source update pattern
- Release-driven
US Department of Education · SC-DICT
All published Scorecard measures
- What the source provides
- Variable definitions; source populations; reporting dates; dollar year
- Important limits
- A current release can contain old cohorts. Select every metric with its own cohort metadata.
- Source update pattern
- With each Scorecard release
US Department of Labor / O*NET · ONET
Occupations mapped from all families
- What the source provides
- Occupation definitions, tasks, skills, knowledge, work context, software and six occupational interests; 365 interest profiles match the catalog
- Important limits
- O*NET detail codes need explicit SOC crosswalk. Occupation-level guidance is not a school curriculum.
- Source update pattern
- Release-driven
O*NET · ONET-RIGHTS
O*NET database
- What the source provides
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 requirements
- Important limits
- Attribute source/version; indicate adaptations; do not imply government endorsement.
- Source update pattern
- Check per release
Bureau of Labor Statistics · BLS
National, state, metro and nonmetro occupations
- What the source provides
- Employment; median/mean and percentile wages; location quotient; sampling measures
- Important limits
- 89,752 selected wage rows. Percentiles are not starting pay. Occupation, geography, year, suppression and sampling fields are retained.
- Source update pattern
- Annual
Bureau of Labor Statistics · BLS-EP
National occupations
- What the source provides
- Projected employment; openings; education; on-the-job training
- Important limits
- National projection is not a local vacancy count or personal employment probability.
- Source update pattern
- Annual projection release
US Department of Labor / CareerOneStop · COS
Training, licences, certifications, local assistance, jobs
- What the source provides
- TrainingV2; licence details; certification details; American Job Centers; associations; jobs
- Important limits
- Endpoint rights and coverage differ. Apprenticeship endpoint lists offices, not all active sponsors or openings.
- Source update pattern
- Endpoint-dependent; cache imports
US Department of Labor · ETP
Historical WIOA training-provider records
- What the source provides
- Provider/programme identity, training and outcomes where released
- Important limits
- File and website reporting-period labels disagree; outcome measures are withheld. Program names and source references do not establish current approval, price or intake.
- Source update pattern
- Annual outcome releases
Texas Workforce Commission · TX-ETPL
Texas training programmes
- What the source provides
- Provider/programme names; participants; exiters; completions; credentials
- Important limits
- Different time windows in column headers; no assumption these are all students at each campus or comparable to Scorecard.
- Source update pattern
- Publisher update
US Department of Education · DAPIP
Recognised institutional and programme accreditations
- What the source provides
- Institution; accreditor; programme; scope; status; dates
- Important limits
- Not a universal licensing database. Pending extraction and entity matching.
- Source update pattern
- Weekly recheck / source update
Credential Engine · CREDENTIALS
Credentials, learning opportunities, approvals and costs
- What the source provides
- CTID; CTDL JSON-LD; credential and organisation links; cost/assessment/pathway fields
- Important limits
- Coverage depends on publishers. Offline storage needs approval. Schema licence does not establish rights to all records.
- Source update pattern
- Publisher-dependent
US Department of Labor · APPRENTICE
Registered apprenticeships
- What the source provides
- Registered routes; aggregate statistics; partner/job-finder links
- Important limits
- Registered status, training partner and open application are three different facts. Use sponsor/state records for intakes.
- Source update pattern
- Openings weekly; aggregate releases
FMCSA · FMCSA
CDL and endorsements
- What the source provides
- Listed location and training type; theory/behind-the-wheel
- Important limits
- FMCSA explicitly says it does not approve or certify providers. Developer service is for completion records, not assumed open directory API.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status / weekly intake
Federal Aviation Administration · FAA
Aircraft maintenance
- What the source provides
- School certificate; ratings; approval scope; training route
- Important limits
- FAA approval differs from institutional accreditation and individual mechanic certification.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
NCCER · NCCER
Construction and industrial craft training
- What the source provides
- Training/assessment location; craft; public access
- Important limits
- Training and testing centres differ; national bulk redistribution not established.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
American Welding Society · AWS
Welding
- What the source provides
- Credentials; school locator; testing sites; scholarships
- Important limits
- Some directory functions require membership. School, testing facility and certified person are distinct entities.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
NABCEP · NABCEP
Solar and renewable-energy credentials
- What the source provides
- Provider; technology; state; associate-course relationship
- Important limits
- Associate eligibility and continuing-education eligibility differ; not a universal solar-school accreditation.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
ASE Education Foundation · ASE
Automotive, diesel, collision
- What the source provides
- Programme accreditation and specialism
- Important limits
- Avoid mistaking a school application for an approved programme.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
ABHES · ABHES
Allied health
- What the source provides
- Institution; programme; credential; delivery; state
- Important limits
- Verify status and campus; institutional and programmatic approvals are different.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
CAAHEP · CAAHEP
Allied-health professions
- What the source provides
- Profession; degree; accreditation; location
- Important limits
- No-results initial UI is not proof of no providers. Profession-specific exam rules still apply.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
AVMA · AVMA
Veterinary technicians
- What the source provides
- Programme; accreditation; delivery; status
- Important limits
- Technician and assistant routes differ; externship and state credentials require further verification.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
NACCAS · NACCAS
Beauty schools
- What the source provides
- School accreditation; location
- Important limits
- State school approval and individual licensing hours are separate.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
American Culinary Federation · ACF
Culinary and hospitality
- What the source provides
- Accredited programmes; approved certificates; apprenticeships
- Important limits
- Do not label every directory entry as the same accreditation type.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
California BPPE · PPE
Private postsecondary providers in California
- What the source provides
- Programme costs; completion/job-placement disclosures; school facts
- Important limits
- School-reported outcomes and denominator definitions must remain visible; not all states publish equivalent data.
- Source update pattern
- Annual
Federal Student Aid · PELL
Short-term funding
- What the source provides
- Workforce Pell effective/applications dates and eligibility framework
- Important limits
- Eligibility is programme and student specific; do not infer from course length or IPEDS participation alone.
- Source update pattern
- On policy change; monthly check
Department of Veterans Affairs · VA
Veterans; schools and employers
- What the source provides
- Approved facilities; programme/employer benefits; warnings where published
- Important limits
- Facility-level approval and individual entitlement differ. No blanket military-friendly score.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly status
US Census Bureau · CENSUS
State/county/place housing and demographics
- What the source provides
- Population; household income; median gross rent; margins of error; FIPS
- Important limits
- Five-year estimates are historical area context, not current advertised rents. Margins of error are retained.
- Source update pattern
- Annual vintage
Bureau of Economic Analysis · BEA
State and metro living-cost context
- What the source provides
- Price level relative to US; goods/services/housing components
- Important limits
- Area comparison only; not a personalised budget. Dollar-year consistency matters.
- Source update pattern
- Annual
CareerOneStop · SCHOLARSHIPS
Scholarships
- What the source provides
- Discovery of award sponsors
- Important limits
- Gale/Cengage material is licensed; do not bulk republish. Extract factual eligibility from original sponsors with appropriate permission.
- Source update pattern
- Sponsor deadlines weekly
U.S. Census Bureau · CENSUS-BULK
6,098 selected geographies; 1,888 school-city matches
- What the source provides
- Population, household income, rent, FIPS and margins of error
- Important limits
- 2020–2024 estimates; area context rather than a student budget or current rental listing.
- Source update pattern
- Annual
U.S. Department of Labor · APPRENTICE-PARTNERS
46,416 organization-location records
- What the source provides
- Organization, location and published partner role
- Important limits
- A partner is not necessarily a registered sponsor, open apprenticeship or vacancy. Verify with the source organization.
- Source update pattern
- Monthly source comparison
CareerOneStop / Analyst Resource Center · COS-LICENSE
11,105 selected historical references
- What the source provides
- License title, occupation, authority, source date and reference link
- Important limits
- Individual records can be older than the export. Current requirements and fees require board verification.
- Source update pattern
- Source update and board review
Bureau of Labor Statistics · ORS
4,328 selected measures across 82 exact SOC groups
- What the source provides
- Physical demands, postures, work schedules, percent estimates, bounds, standard errors and footnotes
- Important limits
- Preliminary 2025 estimates; collected August 2023–July 2025 and released January 16, 2026. Describes surveyed jobs, not a personal health or suitability decision.
- Source update pattern
- BLS release
U.S. Census Bureau · PSEO
36,617 selected certificate and associate field/cohort records across 659 reporting units
- What the source provides
- Exact reporting institution, CIP4, award, graduation cohort, 1/5/10-year median earnings and publication flags
- Important limits
- Participating institutions only. Earnings use the source coverage criteria and 2023 dollars in this version. Small groups can be suppressed. Related OPEID6 matches do not prove campus equivalence.
- Source update pattern
- Census release; check version and schema together
U.S. Department of Education · CCAMPIS
565 award-year records; exact name/state matches to 168 catalog institutions
- What the source provides
- Institution, state, award year and institutional grant amount
- Important limits
- Historical awards to institutions, not grants promised to individual students or proof of current childcare capacity. Confirm present services and application rules.
- Source update pattern
- Award release and campus verification
Original training providers · COURSE-EVIDENCE
13 curated profiles across all eight subject families and several provider types
- What the source provides
- Award, teaching location, curriculum, duration, practical work, schedule, intake, admissions and itemized costs where published
- Important limits
- Curated coverage, not every national program. Unknown values remain explicit. Closed intakes are marked; individual availability and price require confirmation.
- Source update pattern
- Before deadlines and monthly source comparison