Western Technical College in LaCrosse, WI has a good welding course if you're interested in school about 2 hrs. from the cities.  Check out their website.

You really need to define goals.  If you want to be a JUST a welder, the quickest route is a vo-tech school.  They would have the heaviest emphasis on hands on skill.  Some people do very very well as welders, so it is not necessairly a bad route.  Especially if you learn the highest skill levels such as pipe welding.  If you want more education in the future, or are interested in becoming a welding technician, or welding engineering tech, then the community college would give you more to build on.  Welding at the community college would be a slower, but less expensive route if you chose that option.  Looking at the vo tech school, you need to focus on what type of cert you will be getting.  Pipe welding would be the hardest, but would pay the biggest return.  But, if you become a pipe welder, you would find that most of the work is for contract work for people who have their own mobile welding rig.  It would involve travel, and living near multiple job sites until the work is done.  If you get a structural welding cert, you could get a job welding in the field or in a shop.  I would check the placement office at any potential school to see what kind of job search assistance they offer.  A good school would let you see how many employers are currently seeking graduates.  If you go the the local community college, they would probably even have a public bulletin board with job postings.  That is how I found a CAD job once after taking an Autocad class at a community college.