| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Career college: campus, hybrid and online programs |
| Campuses | 7 in Georgia (2), North Carolina (3), Oklahoma (1) and Tennessee (1), plus the Miller-Motte Driving Institute (CDL only) in Summerville, SC. Online programs run through the Chattanooga campus |
| Credentials | Certificates and diplomas (10–15 months; CDL 4–8 weeks), associate degrees (about 18 months), online bachelor’s degrees (about 30–33 months) |
| Accreditation | ACCSC (institutional); Chattanooga is the main campus and the others are branches |
| Federal aid | Yes at the seven campuses; no at the Driving Institute |
| Founded | 1916, Wilmington, NC (that campus closed in 2024) |
| Owner | Ancora Education, owned since 1 April 2025 by Lindenwood Education System, a non-profit |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
Seven campuses, an online division and a driving school
Miller-Motte College started in 1916 in Wilmington, NC, as a school for stenographers. Today it has seven campuses in Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee teaching CDL, skilled trades and allied health programs such as medical and dental assisting. The new programs it announced in 2025 and 2026 were in the trades: welding, electrical, HVAC, plumbing and construction management. Its online division, run through the main campus in Chattanooga, TN, offers diplomas, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees in healthcare support, business and IT. A separate Miller-Motte Driving Institute in Summerville, SC teaches only truck driving and does not take federal aid.
The college has shrunk: our page used to list 12 campuses, and five of them have closed or dropped off the school’s list (see below). Programs start every five weeks, and a program offered at one campus is often not offered at the next, so check the campus before you apply.
Who owns Miller-Motte
Miller-Motte is run by Ancora Education, which also runs Arizona Automotive Institute, Berks Technical Institute and South Texas Vocational Technical Institute. Ancora bought the college from Delta Career Education in 2018. On 1 April 2025 Ancora was acquired by Lindenwood Education System, a non-profit corporation in St. Charles, Missouri that also owns Lindenwood University and Dorsey College. Lindenwood says the schools “continue to operate independently with their own accreditations”. Federal IPEDS data still list the Miller-Motte campuses as private for-profit, and we could not confirm whether they have changed tax status.
Programs and where they are taught
The school says it offers 22 career training programs. Each campus teaches a different subset, taken here from each program page’s “available at” line and the campus pages (October 2026).
| Program | Credential | Length | Delivery | Where taught | Prepares for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDL: Class A Tractor Trailer | Certificate, 160 clock hours | 4 weeks full-time or 8 part-time | In person, range and road | Augusta, Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Chattanooga; Driving Institute (SC) | State CDL skills and knowledge tests |
| Combination Welding | Diploma, 56.5 credits | 10 months | Hybrid | Augusta, Fayetteville, Raleigh | NCCER credentials |
| Electrical | Certificate or diploma, 50 credits | 10 months | In person | Augusta, Columbus, Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Tulsa, Chattanooga | NCCER; not an electrician licence exam |
| HVAC & Basic Refrigeration | Diploma (GA, OK, TN) or certificate (NC) | About 10 months | Hybrid | Augusta, Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Tulsa, Chattanooga | EPA Section 608; NCCER |
| Plumbing | Not confirmed | About 10 months | In person | Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Raleigh | NCCER; not a plumbing licence exam |
| Construction & Trades Management | AAS, 92 credits | 18 months | In person or online | Fayetteville, Jacksonville; online | – |
| Medical Clinical Assistant | Diploma, 60 credits in TN and OK; 72 in NC | 13 months in TN and OK; 15 in NC | Hybrid | All campuses except Augusta | No exam named |
| Dental Assisting | Diploma, 68 credits, or degree track, 92 credits | 15 months (18 for the degree) | Hybrid | Chattanooga, Tulsa (diploma); Raleigh (degree) | No exam named |
| Medical Billing & Coding | Diploma, 72 credits | 15 months | Online or in person | Tulsa, Chattanooga; online | CBCS |
| Healthcare Information Technology | AOS or AAS | About 18 months | Online or in person | Augusta, Chattanooga; online | Coding and health information work |
| Surgical Technology | AAS | 18 months | In person with clinical rotations | Chattanooga only | CST exam |
| Practical Nursing | 90 credits | 14 months | In person with clinicals | Tulsa only | NCLEX-PN (school’s statement) |
| Pharmacy Technician | AAS, 92 credits | 18 months | Online | Online | PTCB or ExCPT |
| Early Childhood Education | AAS, 92 credits | About 18 months | Online, hybrid or in person | Augusta, Columbus; online | Not a teaching licence |
| IT Support Specialist | AOS, 92 credits | About 18 months | Online or in person | Augusta; online | – |
| PC & Network Support Technician | Diploma, 60 credits | 13 months | Online | Online | CompTIA A+, Linux+, Network+ |
| Business Administration | AAS, 92 credits, or BS, 186 credits | 18 or 30 months | Online | Online | – |
| Bachelor’s degrees: Healthcare Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing, IT Management, Cyber Security | BS, 186–188 credits (Marketing not confirmed) | About 32–33 months (Marketing not confirmed) | Online | Online (IT Management listed as full) | – |
Miller-Motte publishes a few limits that matter: its electrical and plumbing programs state that they do not prepare students for the state licensing exam, and early childhood education states that it does not prepare students for any teaching licence. The school says it “cannot guarantee job placement, salary, or employment” and does not guarantee third-party certifications. Practical nursing and surgical technology are each taught at a single campus.
What the main programs cover
CDL Class A
The 160-hour course is taught in person on a practice range and on the road. It covers pre-trip and post-trip vehicle inspection, basic control skills, non-driving activities and preventive maintenance, which the school describes as the material commonly tested for the CDL. Full-time students finish in four weeks and part-time students in eight. At the Summerville Driving Institute, applicants must be 18 or older, hold a valid licence, have a clean motor vehicle record and no DUI or DWI in five years, and day or evening/weekend classes are offered.
Combination Welding
The 10-month diploma teaches the four main processes, shielded metal arc (stick), gas metal arc (MIG), flux-cored and gas tungsten arc (TIG), on both plate and pipe, including V-groove joints and reading welding symbols. Theory is partly online and the welding is done in the campus shop. The school says the program is designed to prepare students for NCCER credentialing; it does not mention American Welding Society certification tests. It is taught at Augusta, Fayetteville and Raleigh.
Electrical and HVAC
Both programs run about 10 months and follow NCCER standards; electrical is 50 credits, as is HVAC at Fayetteville. Electrical covers the National Electrical Code, conduit bending, motors and troubleshooting; the school states it does not prepare students for the electrician licensing exam. HVAC & Basic Refrigeration prepares students for the EPA Section 608 refrigerant certification and NCCER credentials. HVAC is a diploma in Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee and a certificate in North Carolina.
Plumbing
Taught only at the three North Carolina campuses, the program’s courses are Introduction to Plumbing; Basic Craft Skills; Piping and Valves; Installation and Testing; Sizing, Venting and Storm Systems; Service Plumbing and Sump Pumps; Hydronic and Solar Heating and Plumbing Codes; and Private Water and Waste, Pools, Hot Tubs and Mobile Homes. It follows NCCER materials, and the school states that it does not prepare students to take the plumbing licensing exam.
Surgical Technology
This 18-month associate of applied science degree at Chattanooga combines classroom and campus training with clinical rotations, and the school says it includes training in robotic surgery. Miller-Motte says the program is accredited by CAAHEP and prepares students for the Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) exam. No other Miller-Motte campus teaches it. Exam pass rates and employment for recent cohorts are in the results table below.
Practical Nursing
Tulsa’s 90-credit, 14-month program combines classroom study with clinical placements and, the school says, leads to eligibility for the NCLEX-PN licensing exam. It is on the school’s licence from the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools (August 2026 list). It is Miller-Motte’s only nursing program; the college offers no RN program. See the note on board approval under “Before you enroll”.
Cost and paying for it
Miller-Motte does not publish prices on its program pages (“program costs vary based on campus”), and the catalogs that hold tuition sheets could not be read. The figures below are tuition and fees for each campus’s largest programs as reported to the federal government (College Navigator, 2024-25). Books, supplies and later price changes are not included. Augusta also reported prices for medical assisting and medical coding, and Columbus for medical coding and business administration; we leave these out because those campuses no longer list the programs.
| Campus | Program (credits or hours) | Tuition and fees, 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville, NC | CDL (160 clock hours) | $5,000 |
| Fayetteville, NC | HVAC (50 credits) | $18,790 |
| Columbus, GA | Medical/clinical assistant | $22,540 |
| Fayetteville, NC | Medical/clinical assistant (60 credits as reported; the program page gives 72 in NC) | $27,040 |
| Chattanooga, TN (incl. online) | Medical insurance coding | $27,040 |
| Chattanooga, TN (incl. online) | Business administration (92 credits), pharmacy technician, early childhood education | $33,620 each |
| Augusta, GA | Health information / medical records technology (92 credits) | $35,000 |
Niche’s federal-data estimates of average net price per year, after grants, run from about $22,200 (Augusta) to $26,000 (Fayetteville). Ways to pay:
- Federal aid: FAFSA, Pell Grants and federal loans at the seven campuses. The Driving Institute does not take part in federal aid. The school’s default-rate notice gives a 0% cohort default rate for FY2020 to FY2022.
- Other funding: workforce agency (WIOA) funding, vocational rehabilitation, third-party lenders and payment plans.
- Scholarships (paid in equal parts per term; cannot be combined with other discounts): Early Childhood Education Scholarship, up to $2,500, up to 1,000 a year, online; Empowering Equality in Trade Professions (Fayetteville, with Raleigh and Chattanooga versions), up to 15 awards of $2,500 a year for electrical, HVAC, plumbing and welding; Compassionate Care Scholarship, Raleigh, up to 15 awards of $2,500 for medical clinical assisting; Jacksonville High School Scholarship, 25 awards of $5,000 a year for graduates since January 2020 of five nearby school districts.
- Military: Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33), Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), Yellow Ribbon, Tuition Assistance, MyCAA and SkillBridge. The school notes that “VA approvals vary by campus”; Jacksonville’s electrical program is approved by North Carolina’s State Approving Agency.
Admissions and schedule
Applicants must meet the requirements in their campus catalog, which we could not read; the IT Support Specialist page asks for a high school diploma or equivalent and an admissions interview, and applicants without a diploma are told to ask admissions about their options. The school’s FAQ says California residents cannot apply. CDL applicants at the Driving Institute must be 18 or older with a valid licence and clean driving record.
Programs start every five weeks on campus and every five to ten weeks online. The school offers “day, evening, and weekend scheduling for select in-person and online classes”. Online programs are run through the Chattanooga campus; residents of other states should confirm with admissions that their state is eligible.
Accreditation and results
Miller-Motte is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), with Chattanooga as the main campus and the others as branches. ACCSC renewed accreditation for Augusta, Fayetteville and Raleigh in a September 2025 notice, and the ACCSC notices we checked (June, September and December 2025 and March 2026) showed no Miller-Motte campus on probation. The three North Carolina campuses are licensed by the University of North Carolina System, Tulsa by the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools, and the Driving Institute by the SC DMV; the college takes part in NC-SARA through Tennessee, which covers its online programs. The school says its Chattanooga surgical technology program is CAAHEP-accredited and its pharmacy technician program is PTCB-recognized.
The 2025-26 Student Right-to-Know disclosures on the consumer information page give these federal (IPEDS) figures: graduation within 150% of normal time for first-time, full-time students, retention and the share of students receiving Pell Grants. Check the original PDFs before relying on a figure. For Columbus, College Navigator gives a 13% graduation rate for students who started in 2021-22.
| Campus | Graduation rate (cohort) | Retention, fall 2024 to fall 2025 | Pell recipients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chattanooga, TN | 51% (2019 starters) | 64% | 67% (2019-20) |
| Augusta, GA | 64% (2022) | 59% | 62% |
| Columbus, GA | 60% (2022) | 47% | 96% |
| Fayetteville, NC | 83% (2022) | 64% | 35% |
| Jacksonville, NC | 91% (2022) | 65% | 29% |
| Raleigh, NC | 66% (2022) | 65% | 64% |
| Tulsa, OK | 73% (2022) | 65% | 62% |
Program results below are graduation, employment and licensure or exam rates as Miller-Motte reported them to ACCSC (annual report of 1 July 2025, ACCSC definitions) and published in the same disclosures; the cohort is the one in that report unless shown.
| Program and campus | Graduation | Employment | Licensure or exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDL Class A, 1 month, Jacksonville | 97% (56 of 58) | 73% (34 of 48) | 96% |
| CDL Class A, 1 month, Fayetteville | 88% | 73% | 91% |
| CDL Class A, 1 month, Chattanooga | 90% | 74% | 98% |
| CDL Class A, 1 month, Augusta | 95% (35 of 37) | 34% (12 of 35) | 81% |
| Combination Welding, Raleigh | 46% (32 of 70) | 63% (19 of 30) | – |
| HVAC, Raleigh | 67% (31 of 46) | 76% | – |
| Medical Clinical Assistant, by campus | 33% (Fayetteville) to 53% (Columbus) | 69% (Augusta) to 89% (Tulsa) | – |
| Surgical Technology, Chattanooga (2022 cohort) | 56% (15 of 27) | 93% (13 of 14) | CST 58% (7 of 12) |
| Practical Nursing, Tulsa (July 2022–June 2023 cohort, 2024-25 disclosure) | 86% | 58% | NCLEX-PN 70% |
| Medical Billing & Coding, online | 30% (293 of 970) | 19% (19 of 139) | – |
| Pharmacy Technician, online | 33% (127 of 390) | 13% (10 of 76) | – |
| IT Support Specialist, online | 17% | 14% | – |
Before you enroll
- Electrical and plumbing do not lead straight to a licence. Miller-Motte says neither program prepares students for the state licensing exam, and early childhood education does not prepare students for a teaching licence.
- Check practical nursing approval. We could not confirm Tulsa’s program on the Oklahoma Board of Nursing’s undated list of approved practical nursing programs, although the school reported a 70% NCLEX-PN pass rate for a 2022–23 cohort. Ask the school for written proof of its current Board of Nursing approval.
- Results vary widely by program and campus. In the 2025 ACCSC figures in the table above (check the campus PDFs), Augusta’s one-month CDL course reported 34% employment against 73% at Jacksonville; the online medical billing and coding (19%) and pharmacy technician (13%) programs reported very low employment for programs costing about $27,000 to $34,000 in tuition and fees.
- The Driving Institute is a different school. It carries the name Miller-Motte Driving Institute, not Miller-Motte College, and takes no federal aid, so ask the institute how its students pay before you apply.
- Confirm what your campus teaches. Raleigh announced CDL training for February 2025 but no longer lists it, Columbus’s disclosure lists CDL and HVAC with no student starts, and the school’s own FAQ page still lists campuses that have closed.
Campuses that closed or are no longer listed
- Wilmington, NC (5000 Market St), the original campus: the school’s history page says it closed in 2024. Its campus page no longer exists.
- Cary, NC (2205 Walnut St): closed; it is on the North Carolina State Archives list of closed schools (July 2025). We found no closing date.
- Charleston (North Charleston) and Conway, SC: still open in March 2022, but missing from Ancora’s 2024 campus security report and from South Carolina’s January 2025 list of licensed schools, so closed by 2024. We found no closing dates. The Summerville Driving Institute is now Miller-Motte’s only South Carolina location.
- Macon, GA (175 Tom Hill Sr Blvd): no longer on the school’s list of campuses and has no 2025-26 disclosure, after reporting for 2024-25. We could not confirm whether or when it closed.
Three campuses have moved: Augusta to Deans Bridge Road (2022), Jacksonville to New Frontier Way, and Chattanooga to Brainerd Road (January 2025). Tulsa was Platt College before taking the Miller-Motte name.
Housing and career help
Miller-Motte lists no student housing, and College Navigator shows none at Fayetteville. Career services help with résumés and interview preparation and draw on employer partnerships, and externships are available in medical clinical assisting; the catalogs that set out externship hours and who arranges placements could not be read. In July 2026 the Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Raleigh and Tulsa campuses were named on the USA TODAY/Statista list of “America’s Top Vocational Schools”.
What students say
Two Miller-Motte campuses have 25 or more reviews on Niche (checked October 2026): Tulsa, 3.92 out of 5 from 75 reviews, and Chattanooga, 4.73 from 26. The other campuses have four reviews or fewer, and Trustpilot has one.
- Praise: instructors who check in on students, flexible online classes for working parents, helpful advisors, and CDL instructors at Jacksonville.
- Complaints: old or broken equipment and little lab time (Tulsa, 2024), financial aid and disbursement problems (Fayetteville and Tulsa), high cost for short programs, and harsh grading and slow advisors online (Chattanooga, January 2025).
How far to trust them: most of Tulsa’s reviews were written in 2015–2016, when it was Platt College, with another cluster in August 2024. At Chattanooga, 23 of 26 reviews give five stars and most come from online students in 2023–2024, a burst that may reflect reviews the school invited.
Sources
Checked October 2026: Miller-Motte College · Consumer information and disclosures · Online programs · Miller-Motte Driving Institute · Lindenwood acquisition (Apr 2025) · ACCSC notice (Sep 2025) · UNC System licensed institutions · College Navigator, Chattanooga
Programs & Courses
Skilled Trades
- CDL: Class A Tractor Trailer (certificate, 160 clock hours)
- Combination Welding (diploma)
- Electrical
- HVAC & Basic Refrigeration
- Plumbing (North Carolina)
- Construction & Trades Management (AAS, campus or online)
Healthcare
- Medical Clinical Assistant (diploma)
- Medical Assisting (AAS degree completion, online)
- Dental Assisting (diploma or degree track; degree completion online)
- Medical Billing & Coding (diploma)
- Healthcare Information Technology (associate degree)
- Surgical Technology (AAS, Chattanooga)
- Pharmacy Technician (AAS, online)
- Practical Nursing (Tulsa)
Business (online)
- Business Administration (AAS or BS)
- Healthcare Management (BS)
- Human Resource Management (BS)
- Marketing (BS)
Information Technology
- IT Support Specialist (AOS)
- PC & Network Support Technician (diploma, online)
- IT Management (BS, online)
- Cyber Security (BS, online)
Education
- Early Childhood Education (AAS)
Campus Locations
Augusta, GA 3128-A Deans Bridge Rd, Augusta, GA 30906
Columbus, GA 1800 Box Rd, Columbus, GA 31907
Fayetteville, NC 3725 Ramsey St, Fayetteville, NC 28311
Jacksonville, NC 105 New Frontier Way, Jacksonville, NC 28546
Raleigh, NC 3901 Capital Blvd, Ste 151, Raleigh, NC 27604
Tulsa, OK 3801 S. Sheridan Rd, Tulsa, OK 74145
Chattanooga, TN 5600 Brainerd Rd, Ste G2, Chattanooga, TN 37411
Summerville, SC 1414 State Rd, Summerville, SC 29486