Program Structure
The Western Arkansas Apprenticeship Program at NWACC offers an Interior Electrician route combining employment with classroom instruction. The four-year program requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job training and 576 hours of related technical instruction. That differs from the separate Residential Wireworker route, which is not the program described here. Training is based at NWACC in Bentonville, with Arkansas electrical employment providing the workplace component.
Classes run from August through May. The provider describes 144 classroom hours and 2,000 work hours per year. These are training requirements, not a promise that an employer will provide a particular weekly schedule. The state training directory identifies evening, in-person instruction at One College Drive.
Requirements
Participants must be at least 18 and have a high school diploma or GED. They must already work as a W-2 employee under a currently licensed master electrician in Arkansas; NWACC's application page words this as employment under a licensed electrician with a current Arkansas license. This employer-first condition is important: applying to NWACC is not an offer of employment, and the classroom program should not be mistaken for a job-placement guarantee.
NWACC says class attendance is required within 30 days after employment begins. The program contact is [email protected] or 479-986-4084.
Application Process
Registration is open throughout the August–May term, including for returning apprentices. Begin with NWACC's apprenticeship application instructions and supply the requested information. The office contacts applicants about subsequent steps. Use the apprenticeship route rather than assuming that a general college application enrolls you in the correct training pathway.
Registration availability does not remove the need for qualifying employment or establish an immediate seat in a particular class.
What You Earn
The training combines employee work with education; a dated wage schedule is not quoted here. Arkansas JobLink lists in-state tuition of $2,796 for the program in an entry last updated October 6, 2025, without stating the period it covers.
NWACC lists the Interior Electrician pathway as a US DOL Registered Apprenticeship, and Arkansas JobLink describes the program as certified through the Arkansas Office of Apprenticeship Training and USDOL and names an apprenticeship completion certificate. Completing training and receiving an individual electrician license are separate steps; this listing does not promise automatic licensure.