MRI Technologist Training

MRI Tech Programs in North Carolina

Tesla MR's hybrid MRI program takes 12 to 18 months and needs no prior imaging credential: coursework is online, and our site team arranges your clinical training. Every other program a North Carolina resident can attend is compared below.

Comparing programs nationally? See MRI tech school formats, costs, and certification paths. Checking accreditation? See every accredited MRI tech certification program.

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MRI technologist student training at a clinical site
$85K Avg. Salary
78 Affiliated Sites
12-18 mo Program Length
Starting at $11,500 Tuition

Program at a glance

  • 12-18 month program
  • No prerequisites: a high school diploma or GED
  • 100% online coursework
  • Our site team handles clinical placement
  • Eligible to sit the ARMRIT exam on completion

Start your MRI career in North Carolina

No application fee. Rolling admissions year-round.

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Your options

MRI programs available to North Carolina residents

8 in-person or regional programs plus Tesla MR's hybrid option. Only one of them trains you in MRI directly without a prior X-ray credential. Facts come from each school's published pages. Confirm with the school before you apply.

Published cost is what each school states on its own site. Some schools publish tuition only; others include fees, books, or uniforms; public colleges often distinguish in-district from out-of-district rates. Each row says which. For the national list with accreditor and entry requirement for every program, see accredited MRI tech certification programs.

Program Path Credential Length Prior X-ray? Format Published cost
Tesla MR Online coursework, clinicals near you
MRI direct
Certificate (ARMRIT exam eligibility)ARMRIT
12 to 18 months
No
Hybrid: online lectures, in-person clinicals
$11,500 to $13,400 by payment plan
Forsyth Technical Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging AAS) Winston-Salem, NC Accepts 12 students each fall; selective admission using GPA, TEAS and prior healthcare experience; application deadline mid March; program is ARRT recognized and the college is SACSCOC accredited. A separate one-year post-primary diploma takes 1 to 3 students each summer.
MRI direct
Associate in Applied Science in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (72 credit hours)ARRT (MR)
Two years
No
Day classes, in-person with clinical rotations
Grand total estimated cost $6,645 in-state, $20,269 out-of-state (in-state tuition $76.00 per credit hour x 72 credit hours); academic year not stated on the page
Wake Technical Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diploma) Raleigh, NC Applicants must be ARRT registered or registry-eligible in radiography, nuclear medicine, sonography or radiation therapy; February 15 application deadline; first-come, first-served until the enrollment cap is reached.
MRI after X-ray
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diploma (45 credit hours)ARRT (MR) post-primary
Not stated
Yes
In-person/Online Hybrid, day or evening, Perry Health Sciences Campus
Estimated tuition $3,420 in-state, $12,060 out-of-state for 45 credit hours, plus fees; academic year not stated on the page
Edgecombe Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diploma) Rocky Mount, NC Applicants must be ARRT registered or registry-eligible in radiography, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine or sonography; run as a CT/MRI consortium with Vance-Granville and Johnston community colleges; program staff are at the Rocky Mount campus.
MRI after X-ray
Diploma in Magnetic Resonance ImagingARRT (MR) post-primary
Curriculum plan listed as Summer/Fall/Spring
Yes
Not stated
Not published
Pitt Community College (CT/MRI Technology, MRI Certificate) Winterville, NC Requires an associate degree, certification in radiography, radiation therapy or nuclear medicine, a 2.5 GPA in discipline coursework and a confirmed clinical site placement.
MRI after X-ray
MRI Certificate; CT/MRI Diploma also offeredARRT (MR) post-primary
Not stated
Yes
May be completed totally online with the exception of the clinical practice rotations
Not published
Cleveland Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Certificate) Shelby, NC Applicants must be registered or registry-eligible as a radiologic technologist, radiation therapist or nuclear medicine technologist; program deadline April 25 with provisional acceptance notice by May 1.
MRI after X-ray
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Certificate C45200M (18 credit hours)ARRT (MR) post-primary
Short term, 3 to 12 months
Yes
Academic courses fully online; clinical courses arranged at clinical sites
Estimated total cost for program $2,488 (tuition $1,538 plus fees, textbooks and a recommended laptop); academic year not stated on the page
Randolph Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Certificate) Asheboro, NC Must be a registered radiologic technologist, nuclear medicine technologist or ultrasound technologist and meet the ARRT post-primary pathway; starts in spring; grade of B or better required in all MRI courses.
MRI after X-ray
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Certificate C45200M (18 semester hours)ARRT (MR) post-primary
Spring and summer semesters
Yes
Online, hybrid, day, evening, and/or weekends
Not published
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (Radiography AAS) Asheville, NC JRCERT accredited with an 8 year award; fall cohort admission.
X-ray first
Associate in Applied Science in Radiography (72 credit hours)ARRT (R)
Not stated
No
Not stated
Not published
Carolinas College of Health Sciences (Radiologic Technology AAS) Charlotte, NC JRCERT accredited with an 8 year award; fall start in August with a March 1 priority deadline.
X-ray first
Associate of Applied Science in Radiologic Technology (72 credit hours)ARRT (R)
Five semesters
No
In-person classroom instruction with more than 1,150 hours of clinical practice at Atrium Health sites
Not published

Verified against each program's own website between Sep 18, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026. Tuition, length, and admission rules change; the school's page is the authority. Tesla MR is not a degree-granting institution and does not participate in federal financial aid. See accreditation. The schools named here are not affiliated with Tesla MR and do not endorse it; their names belong to their owners. Spot an error? Email info@teslamr.com and we will review it within 10 business days.

The path

How to become an MRI tech in North Carolina

Five steps, the same in North Carolina as anywhere else. Where you do step four is what changes by city.

  1. Confirm you are eligible

    A high school diploma or GED is the floor. You do not need a prior X-ray, radiography, or healthcare credential for the ARMRIT route. Some of the in-person programs in the table above do require one.

  2. Pick the credential you are aiming for

    Employers in North Carolina hire both ARRT (MR) and ARMRIT technologists. ARRT usually means a two-year degree or a prior radiography license. ARMRIT is the certificate route for career changers.

  3. Choose a program format that fits your life

    Full-time campus programs are faster if you can stop working. Hybrid programs put the coursework online and the clinical hours at a facility near you, which is how most working adults finish.

  4. Complete supervised clinical hours

    Every path ends at a scanner. Clinical training is the part that depends on local capacity, so ask any program how placement works before you enroll. Ours is explained below.

  5. Pass the registry exam and get hired

    North Carolina does not license MRI technologists. Employers require ARRT (MR) or ARMRIT certification. Once certified, you can apply to the hospital systems and imaging groups listed further down this page.

Where you would train and work

MRI employers in North Carolina, and which ones are in our clinical network

Tesla MR has 78 affiliated clinical sites in North Carolina. An affiliated site is a facility in our clinical network where students can be placed. The others are places MRI techs work in North Carolina that we have not affiliated with yet.

Affiliated site Employer, not yet affiliated

Atrium Health

Affiliated site
  • Anson Wadesboro, NC
  • Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte, NC
  • Atrium Health Union Monroe, NC
  • Cabarrus Concord, NC
  • Cabarrus Imaging Concord, NC
  • Cleveland Shelby, NC
  • +26 more locations

WakeMed

Affiliated site
  • Apex Apex, NC
  • Brier Creek Raleigh, NC
  • Cary Hospital Cary, NC
  • Garner Garner, NC
  • Medical Park of Cary Cary, NC
  • North Hospital Raleigh, NC
  • +3 more locations

Raleigh Radiology

Affiliated site
  • Blue Ridge (Raleigh) Raleigh, NC
  • Clayton Clayton, NC
  • Fuquay-Varina Fuquay-Varina, NC
  • Holly Springs Holly Springs, NC
  • Knightdale Knightdale, NC
  • Midtown (Raleigh) Raleigh, NC
  • +2 more locations

Duke Health

Affiliated site
  • Cancer Center Durham, NC
  • Duke Health NC, NC
  • Duke Hospital Durham, NC
  • Medicine Pavilion Durham, NC
  • Raleigh Imaging Raleigh, NC
  • Regional Hospital Durham, NC
  • +8 more locations

EmergeOrtho

Affiliated site
  • Brabham Avenue Jacksonville, NC
  • Burlington Burlington, NC
  • EmergeOrtho Greensboro, NC
  • Hickory Hickory, NC
  • Raleigh Raleigh, NC

Cone Health

Affiliated site
  • Alamance Regional Burlington, NC
  • Annie Penn Hospital Reidsville, NC
  • Cone Health Various Locations, NC
  • Wesley Hospital Greensboro, NC

Columbus Regional Healthcare System

Affiliated site
  • Leland Leland, NC
  • Main Campus 500 Jefferson St. Whiteville, NC
  • Whiteville Whiteville, NC

OrthoCarolina

Affiliated site
  • OrthoCarolina Ballantyne Charlotte, NC
  • OrthoCarolina Spine Center Charlotte, NC
  • Coastal Diagnostic Imaging Jacksonville, NC
  • OrthoCarolina Belmont Belmont, NC
  • OrthoCarolina Clemmons Clemmons, NC
  • OrthoCarolina Concord Concord, NC
  • +11 more locations

Plus 14 more imaging groups in the area.

Pulled from Tesla MR's site database on October 9, 2026. Affiliations are added and change over time; the assessment you receive during admissions is the one that applies to you.

Clinical placement

How clinical placement works

Our Clinical Sites team leads placement. You are not expected to find or negotiate your own clinical site. We look for a facility within a reasonable commute of your home and widen the search only if we need to.

Timing depends on facilities having capacity when you reach clinicals. If your area is thin, we tell you during admissions, not after you enroll, and we talk through the options with you.

Deep network · North Carolina

North Carolina is one of our larger markets, with 78 affiliated sites across several health systems. Students here are typically placed within the existing network.

  1. We look at your area during admissions

    If you already have a facility in mind, maybe where you work, we reach out and see whether you can train there. If not, our site team maps the hospitals and imaging centers near your home and starts the conversation.

  2. You get a straight answer before you enroll

    Clinicals are still months away at this point, so a site's answer is usually "we expect so, check back closer to the date." We tell you what we heard and what it means for your timeline.

  3. You start the coursework while the site work continues

    Most students begin Phase I and Phase II before a specific facility is named. That is normal, and the site team keeps working your area in the background.

  4. Your site is confirmed as clinicals approach

    Once clinicals are weeks away rather than months, facilities can commit to dates. We work to have your placement set before Phase III begins. Which facility and which shift depends on who has capacity at that time.

MRI technologist licensing in North Carolina

North Carolina does not currently issue a state license for MRI technologists. Senate Bill 415 (2025 session) would add licensure for medical imaging personnel, including magnetic resonance; it was referred to the Senate Rules committee in March 2025 and has not been enacted.

Employers set the credential requirement. Most postings ask for ARRT (MR) or ARMRIT, the two national MRI certifications, and both are valid in all 50 states.

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Key Takeaway

North Carolina does not license MRI technologists. Employers require ARRT (MR) or ARMRIT certification.

MRI technologist salary in North Carolina

BLS reports a May 2025 median of $85,120 for MRI technologists in North Carolina, with about 1,180 employed statewide (BLS OEWS, state estimates). The national median is $95,480. For comparison, North Carolina radiologic technologists, which includes X-ray and CT, have a median of $74,450.

Entry-level pay sits below the median. Shift differentials, specialty work such as cardiac or breast MRI, and 3 to 5 years of experience push experienced technologists above it. See the MRI technologist salary guide and salary by state for the full breakdown.

Where MRI techs work in North Carolina

Major healthcare employers in North Carolina include Atrium Health, Duke Health, Novant Health, UNC Health, WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Cone Health. These systems operate hospitals, outpatient imaging centers, and specialty clinics across the state.

North Carolina’s MRI market benefits from the Research Triangle’s world-class medical institutions, Duke Health and UNC Health are among the nation’s top academic medical centers, and Charlotte’s rapidly growing healthcare infrastructure led by Atrium Health. The state has experienced significant population growth, particularly in the Charlotte and Raleigh metros, driving expansion of imaging services. North Carolina’s moderate cost of living, mild climate, and the presence of both mountain and coastal communities make it one of the most popular relocation destinations for healthcare professionals nationwide.

MRI programs by city in North Carolina

Looking for MRI training in a specific North Carolina city? See our detailed guides:

More resources

ARMRIT Accredited Nationally recognized certification
334+ Clinical Sites Partner network in 38 states
Starting at $11,500 Payment plans available

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on the path. The X-ray-first route is a 2-year radiography degree followed by an MRI certificate, often about another year. One North Carolina program in the table above, Forsyth Technical Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging AAS), takes students with no imaging credential; its length is listed in the Length column. Tesla MR's hybrid certificate takes most students 12 to 18 months.

BLS does not break CT out separately; it reports radiologic technologists and technicians, which includes X-ray and CT, at a North Carolina median of $74,450 versus $85,120 for MRI technologists (May 2025). Nationally the figures are $80,110 and $95,480. MRI is the higher-paid modality in both sets of numbers.

The coursework is real: MRI physics, cross-sectional anatomy, pulse sequences, and safety around a magnet that is always on. Most students who put in steady weekly hours pass. In North Carolina the harder part is often getting a seat, since campus MRI cohorts are small and most admit once a year. Every path ends with a national registry exam, ARRT or ARMRIT.

Yes. Forsyth Technical Community College (Magnetic Resonance Imaging AAS) and Tesla MR's hybrid certificate both accept students with no prior imaging credential. The post-primary certificates in the table require an existing ARRT, ARDMS, or NMTCB registry, so check the prior X-ray column before you apply anywhere.

Our Clinical Sites team leads placement. You are not expected to secure your own site. If you know a facility, you can propose it, but we review it, confirm capacity, sign the agreement, and approve it. The affiliated North Carolina health systems are listed on this page.

MRI tech schools in nearby cities and states

Charlotte, North CarolinaFayetteville, North Carolina3+GeorgiaSouth CarolinaTennesseeVirginia
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MRI Training in North Carolina 12-18 months · No prerequisites
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