| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Private nonprofit adult career school, campus-based (no online classes) |
| Owner and founding | Manchester Bidwell Corporation; founded 1968 |
| Campus | 1, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Credentials | Diplomas, plus one registered apprenticeship |
| Typical length | 6 to 12 months, full time, daytime; the apprenticeship takes 28 months |
| Approval | Licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools; no institutional accreditor named |
| Cost to students | $0 for accepted Pennsylvania residents (one-time state-funded grant) |
| Who can enroll | Pennsylvania residents only |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
A free career school for Pennsylvania adults
Bidwell Training Center is a private nonprofit career school on Pittsburgh’s North Side, owned by Manchester Bidwell Corporation. It opened in 1968 in the Manchester neighborhood to train local residents for construction trades, and when it moved to Metropolitan Street in 1986 its focus shifted to technology and medical fields. Today it teaches allied health, science and culinary programs.
What sets it apart is the price: an accepted student who lives in Pennsylvania pays nothing for tuition, books, supplies, uniforms or fees. The school pays for this with state funding, foundation grants and private donations. The other side of that is that only Pennsylvania residents can enroll, classes are full-time and daytime only, and each cohort is capped at 12 to 24 students.
Seven programs, all on one Pittsburgh campus
Bidwell groups its programs into allied health, STEM and culinary. Every one leads to a diploma, is taught in person, and runs on weekdays. Costs below are full program prices before the grant, from the 2026-27 catalog (the apprenticeship’s from its program page), which accepted Pennsylvania residents do not pay.
| Program | Credential | Length | Work experience | Prepares for | Cost before grant (2026-27) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Assistant | Diploma | 790 hours, about 7 months | 160-hour externship | NHA CCMA | $13,521 |
| Medical Billing | Diploma | 950 hours, about 8 months | 320-hour externship | None named | $13,916 |
| Institutional Pharmacy Technician | Diploma | 695 hours, about 6 months | 160-hour externship | PTCB exam (PTCE) | $13,217 |
| Chemical Laboratory Technician | Diploma | 1,410 hours, about 11 months | 240-hour externship | OSHA lab safety, GHS hazard communication | $15,327 |
| Chemical Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship | Diploma with registered apprenticeship | 28 months (up to 33) | Paid on-the-job training with the hiring employer | OSHA lab safety, GHS hazard communication | $15,316 |
| Plant Science Technician | Diploma | 786 hours (Sep 2026 addendum), about 7 months | 4-week externship | Pennsylvania pesticide applicator core exam | $14,023 |
| Culinary Arts | Diploma | 1,128 hours, 12 months | None; training in the school’s restaurant kitchen | ServSafe Manager (required to graduate) | $20,502 |
Two programs have new names: Medical Billing was called Medical Coder/Biller, and Plant Science Technician was Horticulture Technology. The older Pharmacy Technician program has ended and been replaced by Institutional Pharmacy Technician. Bidwell names the employers it works with in some fields, including PPG Industries, US Steel and Sherwin-Williams for chemical lab students, and Allegheny Health Network, UPMC and Grane Rx for pharmacy technicians.
What the main programs cover
Medical Assistant
The 790-hour program runs about 28 weeks, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Students train in the classroom and lab for 24 weeks, then spend the last four weeks, 160 hours, in a physician office, hospital or outpatient clinic. Coursework includes professional skills such as résumés, interviews and job search. Graduates are prepared for the National Healthcareer Association’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam. Applicants need a minimum TABE score of 512 in math and 533 in reading.
Medical Billing
This 950-hour diploma takes about 32 weeks. Of that, 630 hours are in the classroom, covering ICD-10-CM/PCS, CPT and HCPCS coding, insurance claims, the revenue cycle, electronic health records and encoder software. The remaining 320 hours are an eight-week externship in a hospital billing department, physician practice or insurance company, which Bidwell staff arrange. The program page and catalog name no certification exam, so students who want a coding credential should ask which exam, if any, the course prepares them for.
Institutional Pharmacy Technician
The program trains technicians for institutional pharmacies. It totals 695 hours in the catalog, about six months; the catalog says 24 weeks, while the program page lists 26 weeks of class plus a four-week externship. Classes run Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., with half-day Fridays. The 160-hour externship is in an institutional pharmacy under a registered pharmacist. Graduates are prepared for the PTCB Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam, which leads to the CPhT credential.
Chemical Laboratory Technician and the apprenticeship
The diploma takes 1,410 hours over about 51 weeks, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and ends with an eight-week, 240-hour externship in a professional chemical lab. It trains industrial and chemical lab technicians, not clinical medical lab technicians. A newer 28-month registered apprenticeship, sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce’s Pittsburgh chapter, combines 16 months of school and paid work with 12 more months on the job. Apprentices must be at least 18 and be hired by an employer.
Plant Science Technician
Formerly Horticulture Technology, this diploma takes about seven months: 24 weeks of class and lab, followed by a four-week externship of 120 hours. The school’s documents disagree on total hours, from 756 to 880; the September 2026 catalog addendum, which uses the new name, gives 786. Students prepare for Pennsylvania’s commercial pesticide applicator core exam and earn Red Cross First Aid/CPR and Tree Pittsburgh Tree Tender training. The school lists turfgrass, landscape, greenhouse and nursery, tree care and plant health technician jobs as targets.
Culinary Arts
The 12-month, 1,128-hour program runs Monday to Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with some Fridays. There is no outside externship: students cook in the school’s own restaurant kitchen in the 1815 building, and the curriculum includes a restaurant management course. Every student must pass the ServSafe Manager exam to graduate. The program does not hold American Culinary Federation accreditation. Applicants need a TABE score of 519 in both math and reading.
$0 for accepted Pennsylvania residents
Accepted students receive a one-time institutional grant funded by the State of Pennsylvania that covers tuition, fees, uniforms, supplies and textbooks, according to the school’s no-cost tuition page. The grant is awarded on acceptance and is not available for a second enrollment: a student who is terminated cannot re-enroll or get another grant.
Without the grant, the 2026-27 catalog puts total program costs at $13,217 for Institutional Pharmacy Technician (the program page says $13,337) up to $20,502 for Culinary Arts, with Medical Assistant at $13,521 and Plant Science Technician at $14,023. Students from outside Pennsylvania cannot enroll, so it publishes no out-of-state price.
The school says it is approved for veterans’ education benefits, including the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Montgomery GI Bill, subject to VA approval. It is also approved by Pennsylvania’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and for the Trade Readjustment Act.
Admission: residency, a reading and math test, and a probation week
Applicants must prove Pennsylvania residency (for example with a state driver’s license or ID, a lease or utility bills) and have a high school diploma or GED before classes start. They attend an in-person information session and then take the TABE reading and math assessment; minimum scores differ by program, and an applicant who fails twice must wait a year to try again. Some programs require a background check. The first five days of class are probationary, and a single absence without a proper call-off leads to withdrawal and loss of the grant.
As of October 2026, the next starts listed are 26 October 2026 for Chemical Laboratory Technician, 22 March 2027 for Plant Science, 5 April 2027 for Culinary Arts, and 12 April 2027 for Medical Assistant and Institutional Pharmacy Technician.
State licence and published results
Bidwell is licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools, as its consumer information page states. The parts of its 2026-27 catalog we read and its website name no institutional accreditor and no programmatic accreditation for any program. The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges named Bidwell a School of Excellence in 2012, but current school documents do not claim ACCSC accreditation.
In its 2024 annual report to the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools, Bidwell reported a 70% graduation rate and an 84% employment rate. The graduation rate covers students scheduled to finish between July 2024 and June 2025; the employment rate covers graduates of July 2023 to June 2024 who were looking for work. The report gives no student counts.
| Program (name in the report) | Graduation rate | Employment rate |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Assistant | 82% | 78% |
| Medical Coder/Biller (now Medical Billing) | 59% | 78% |
| Chemical Laboratory Technician | 67% | 90% |
| Horticulture Technology (now Plant Science Technician) | 72% | 88% |
| Culinary Arts | 72% | 100% |
| All programs | 70% | 84% |
We found no published pass rates for the CCMA, pharmacy technician, ServSafe or pesticide applicator exams.
Before you enroll
- You must live in Pennsylvania. Residency is an admission requirement, not just a condition of the free tuition.
- The grant is one-time. Missing a day without calling off in the first week, or being terminated later, ends it, and you cannot come back for a second try at no cost.
- Bidwell holds a state licence but names no accreditor, so ask any college you may want to continue at whether it will give credit for a Bidwell diploma.
- Medical Billing does not prepare students for a named coding certification, and we found no published exam pass rates for any program.
- Classes are full-time on weekdays with no evening or online option, which is hard to combine with a daytime job. The chemical lab apprenticeship is the only paid route, and it requires an employer to hire you first.
Career help and campus facilities
Externships are built into every diploma program except Culinary Arts (the apprenticeship uses paid on-the-job training instead), and Bidwell staff arrange the Medical Billing placements. Résumé, interview and job-search lessons are part of the Medical Assistant and Institutional Pharmacy Technician courses, and employers are invited to interview chemical lab students. The school has no student housing. The campus has a 150-seat auditorium, a library and a 200-seat dining hall.
Facts checked October 2026.
Programs & Courses
Allied Health
- Medical Assistant (diploma, 790 hours)
- Medical Billing (diploma, 950 hours; formerly Medical Coder/Biller)
- Institutional Pharmacy Technician (diploma, 695 hours)
STEM
- Chemical Laboratory Technician (diploma, 1,410 hours)
- Chemical Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship (28-month registered apprenticeship; employer hire required)
- Plant Science Technician (diploma; formerly Horticulture Technology)
Culinary
- Culinary Arts (diploma, 1,128 hours)
Campus Locations
Pittsburgh, PA 1815 Metropolitan Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15233