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

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

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

13 Colleges
$7,212 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.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for trade school students. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 13 schools in the Southwest Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for design engineering tech students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

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

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

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for design engineering tech majors pursuing a associate degree.

Top 10 Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools

#1

Lee College

Baytown, TX

Our analysis found Lee College to be the best value school for drafting & design engineering technology students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Southwest Region . Lee College is a moderately-sized public school located in the small city of Baytown.

Lee College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,302 in tuition and fees each year.

Lee College also claimed a spot on our Best Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Full Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Lee College Report

#2

Tyler Junior College

Tyler, TX

The excellent associate degree programs at Tyler Junior College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value drafting & design engineering technology schools in the Southwest Region . Tyler Junior College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Tyler.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Tyler Junior College are $4,440 per year.

Full Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Tyler Junior College Report

#3

Amarillo College

Amarillo, TX

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Amarillo College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the medium-sized city of Amarillo, Amarillo College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Amarillo College are $4,704 per year.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means San Jacinto Community College is a great value for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. San Jacinto College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Pasadena.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at San Jacinto College are $5,040 per year.

Read full report on Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at San Jacinto Community College

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Houston Community College is a great value for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Located in the city of Houston, Houston Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Houston Community College are $5,460 a year. While working on their Associate Degree, design engineering tech majors at Houston Community College accumulate an average of around $15,837 in student debt.

Full Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Houston Community College Report

#6

Laredo College

Laredo, TX

Laredo 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 city of Laredo, Laredo College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Laredo College are $5,748 a year.

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Lamar Institute of Technology came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Lamar Institute of Technology is a small public school located in the midsize city of Beaumont.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Lamar Institute of Technology are $12,636 per year.

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

Read More…

Tarrant County College District 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 #8 on the list. Located in the city of Fort Worth, Tarrant County College is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Tarrant County College are $8,235 a year.

Full Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Tarrant County College District Report

#9

San Juan College

Farmington, NM

San Juan College landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree drafting & design engineering technology programs. SJC is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Farmington.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SJC are $4,882 per year.

Read full report on Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at San Juan College

Austin Community College District came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Austin Community College District is a fairly large public school located in the city of Austin.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Austin Community College District are $10,590 a year. The average amount in student loans that design engineering tech majors at Austin Community College District take out while working on their Associate Degree is $16,915.

Read full report on Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Austin Community College District

Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Colleges by State

Explore the best drafting & design engineering technology colleges for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Arizona 150
Texas 1,107
Oklahoma 240
New Mexico 46

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

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 13 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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