[monkmartinez]

> "Plenty of community colleges are run from state funding and have all kinds of adult education shop classes. You can learn to weld, do carpentry, etc."

Once you are done learning the basics which takes about a week, you still have to participate in class and do "class" projects. These classes are not convenient to begin with and access to the shop ends when the class is over. You could buy a small contractors table saw or cheap flux core welder for the price of one class in my area. Not worth the price of admission imo.