Drafting & Design Engineering Technology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #48 most popular associate degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 414 associate degrees in drafting & design engineering technology to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Drafting & Design Engineering Technology School for Your Associate Degree
The design engineering tech associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on drafting & design engineering technology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of drafting & design engineering technology students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt drafting & design engineering technology students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized drafting & design engineering technology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Drafting & Design Engineering Technology in the Far Western US Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in drafting & design engineering technology.
Top Far Western US Region Schools for an Associate in Design Engineering Tech
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in drafting & design engineering technology needs to look into Portland Community College. Portland Community College is a fairly large public college located in the city of Portland.
Students who graduate with their associate from the design engineering tech program report average early career wages of $51,921.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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).
college factual
The design engineering tech associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
