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Frequently Asked Questions
If you are considering Hot Rod Institute, or any school, you should know exactly what to expect while you are a student; with no surprises. At HRI our main objective is to make sure the student gets their monies worth of their education. If you have any specific questions about your education at Hot Rod Institute that are not answered below please contact Kyle Harder the Director of Admissions and Education. Remember “If you love the type of work you do, is it really considered work?"
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The Hot Rod Institute is located in the beautiful Black Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota.
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There are many classes taught in high school that can help prepare you for Hot Rod Institute as well as the speicalty automotive industry. Here are a few suggestions...
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YES. As a part of the curriculum the students will be taught how to develop a portfolio and resume’. Students will keep a daily log book of shop tasks preparing them for industry situations. Students will also discuss interview questions to help them prepare them for the job interview.
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NO. It is highly recommended that the students have health and accident insurance before attending Hot Rod Institute. We are looking into finding a group provider for our students.
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YES. This is one more of the reasons we chose this location is because there are good part time employment opportunities for students. This will help offset some of the living expenses.
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NO. But we will do the research and try to locate affordable housing and a possible roommate for the students that need help. One of the reasons we decided to locate HRI in the Rapid City area is because of its affordable cost of living for the students of HRI. Make sure in your financing that you take housing and living expenses into consideration.
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NO. We interview interested students (in person or over the phone) to make sure we are right for the student and the student is right for us. We don’t want to waste anyone’s money or our time.
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YES. We are approved to offer student financial aid through Sallie Mae Financial Corporation. The loan is a Career Training Smart Option Student Loan. Most training loan interest rates are based off of the credit rating of the applicant and/or cosigner.
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Our number one goal is to give a student a high quality education at a reasonable price. We are not a corporate or government backed school. Hot Rod Institute is a small private school. After graduation a student could be out in the work force making a good living doing what a true hot rodder loves to do. Price varies between options, such as a 5% discount on tuition for taking a Diploma Program (4 or more classes). Contact the Kyle Harder the Director of Admissions and Education for the actual cost. We don’t like to beat around the bush, we will tell you the cost, straight up. Give us a call today!
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Max student to instructor ratio should not exceed 15 to 1. In order to give the student the best training possible, HRI maintains a very low instructor to student ratio.
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YES. We require the student to be well groomed. If he has a beard it must trimmed and cannot be too long for safety reasons. Hair must be kept well groomed. Long hair must be tied back. We maintain a professional atmosphere.
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YES. We require the students to wear Dickies style work shirts or school approved T-shirts, blue jeans or Dickies style work pants, and leather boots or work shoes. Pants cannot be baggy or holey with frayed ends for safety reasons. Shorts and tennis/skate shoes will not be allowed.
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The Hot Rod Motorcycle class is a three month class that you could elect to take by itself or combined with any of the other Hot Rod classes. If you were to take a four class diploma program, you could build a complete bike right down to the paint and custom graphics.
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YES. Female students are encouraged to enroll. We have experienced many very capable female students. The hot rodding industry is an excellent opportunity for any student with some artistic and highly motivated desires to succeed. The gender or race does not matter.
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YES. Students work on student owned projects, but it must be approved by the School Director. A student project is not required to attend, but it is an opportunity for students to build their own hot rods. There is always plenty of work in classes for students without projects to obtain a wide base for their education. All materials used in student projects are the responsibility of the student.
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NO. The majority of your training will be self paced. Each student will work at their level of expertise. If you require more time to achieve completion of a task or if you achieve the task quickly you move at your individual pace. The more skill you have coming in, the quicker you move up the knowledge ladder.
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NO. But if you did that means you could move on a little faster during the welding training. If you’re weak in welding don’t be concerned, you will be an excellent welder by the time you graduate. Welding is something we will have you practice and perform almost daily.
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NO. Part of our training is to prepare the student for the work place. The student will go to school 7.5 hours a day five days a week. 8 am till 4:30 pm is our school hours. HRI is very serious about the training we offer our students and we want our students to be very successful in the specialty vehicle industry.
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It depends on you and your goals. You can elect to take any number of the three month classes or all 6 classes, which would total 18 months. Here are the programs and a brief description.
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NO. The HRI is about building hot rods and custom motorcycles. If you have already taken some kind of repair industry training from another school it could help, but it is not required. The classes are largely self-paced. It’s our goal to help you achieve a very highest level of competence and make you very employable in the specialty industry.
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Doug LaRue the founder has been building Hot Rods for over 30 years. He has also been a professional instructor for 20 years. He has developed similar programs for two different schools and expanded those programs many times. Hot Rod Institute opened its doors in 2008, but the instructional staff is very experienced and you can rest assured that if you want a high quality education in the hot rodding industry this is the school for you.
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