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Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in Iowa

2023 Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in Iowa

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

3 Colleges
$5,311 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 #15 most popular major in Iowa with 103 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.

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 Iowa ranking. This report analyzed 3 schools in Iowa 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.

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 Iowa

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

Best Iowa Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Drafting & Design Engineering

Our analysis found Western Iowa Tech Community College to be the best value school for drafting & design engineering technology students who want to pursue a associate degree in Iowa. Located in the small city of Sioux City, Western Iowa Tech Community College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Western Iowa Tech Community College are $4,922 per year.

Read full report on Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Western Iowa Tech Community College

#2

Kirkwood Community College

Cedar Rapids, IA

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Kirkwood Community College is a great value for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree. Kirkwood Community College is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Cedar Rapids.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Kirkwood Community College are $5,700 per year. After completing their Associate Degree, design engineering tech graduates from Kirkwood Community College carry an average student debtload of $18,615.

Kirkwood Community College also took the #5 spot in our Best Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Trade Schools in Iowa rankings.

Full Drafting & Design Engineering Technology at Kirkwood Community College Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Des Moines Area Community College. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Associate Degree Schools in Iowa list. DMACC is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Ankeny.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at DMACC are $5,340 a year. On average, design engineering tech graduates from DMACC take out $12,429 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

Read More…

Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Value Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 130
Missouri 137
Minnesota 333
South Dakota 20
Nebraska 152

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 3 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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