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Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

2023 Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

19 Colleges
$7,958 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$41,027 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree School for You

Drafting & Design Engineering Technology is the #20 most popular major in the country with 8,822 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which trade school program is right for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Trade College Search has created its Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. This report analyzed 19 schools in the Southeast Region to see which ones offered the best value associate degree programs for design engineering tech students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Top 10 Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools

Our analysis found Fletcher Technical Community College to be the best value school for drafting & design engineering technology students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Southeast Region . Fletcher Technical Community College is a small public school located in the rural area of Schriever.

Fletcher Technical Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,119 in tuition and fees each year.

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means SOWELA Technical Community College is a great value for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Located in the small city of Lake Charles, SOWELA is a public college with a small student population.

SOWELA undergraduate students pay an average of $4,325 in tuition and fees each year.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means South Louisiana Community College is a great value for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. South Louisiana Community College is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize city of Lafayette.

South Louisiana Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,205 in tuition and fees each year. After completing their Associate Degree, design engineering tech graduates from South Louisiana Community College carry an average student debtload of $13,823.

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Out of the 19 schools in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Georgia Northwestern Technical College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Rome, Georgia Northwestern Technical College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Georgia Northwestern Technical College are $5,512 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Georgia Northwestern Technical College also did well on our Best Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southeast Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is a medium-sized public school located in the rural area of Perkinston.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College are $7,250 per year. While working on their Associate Degree, design engineering tech majors at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College accumulate an average of around $11,012 in student debt.

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#6

Pearl River Community College

Poplarville, MS

Pearl River Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for drafting & design engineering technology students to get a associate degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the rural area of Poplarville, Pearl River Community College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Pearl River Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $5,500 in tuition and fees each year.

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#7

Valencia College

Orlando, FL

Valencia College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Valencia College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Orlando.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Valencia College are $9,383 per year. On average, design engineering tech graduates from Valencia College take out $12,667 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

In addition to its great value ranking, Valencia College is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southeast Region list.

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With a ranking of #8, Greenville Technical College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Located in the small city of Greenville, GTC is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at GTC are $10,202 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, GTC also is in the top 15% of our Best Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southeast Region ranking.

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With a ranking of #9, Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Located in the rural area of Orangeburg, OCtech is a public college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at OCtech are $7,970 a year.

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#10

Piedmont Technical College

Greenwood, SC

With a ranking of #10, Piedmont Technical College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Located in the distant town of Greenwood, Piedmont Technical College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Piedmont Technical College are $6,593 per year.

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Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Colleges by State

Explore the best drafting & design engineering technology schools for a specific state in the Southeast region.

State Degrees Awarded
South Carolina 112
Georgia 339
Arkansas 78
North Carolina 97
Florida 450
West Virginia 8
Louisiana 183
Virginia 115
Alabama 212
Kentucky 307
Tennessee 122
Mississippi 227

Drafting & Design Engineering Technology is one of 18 different types of trade school programs to choose from.

Design Engineering Tech Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Drafting & Design Technology 4,028
CAD/CADD Drafting &/or Design Technology 2,179
Architectural Drafting & Architectural CAD/CADD 1,318
Mechanical Drafting & Mechanical Drafting CAD/CADD 1,058
Civil Drafting & Civil Engineering CAD/CADD 104
Other Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies 72
Electrical/Electronics Drafting & Electrical/Electronics CAD/CADD 47

Majors Similar to Design Engineering Tech

Related Major Annual Graduates
Industrial Production Technology 11,288
Electromechanical Engineering Technology 10,780
Environmental Control Technology 9,376
Electronics Engineering Technology 8,347
Engineering-Related Fields 6,553

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 19 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Pixabay.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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