In 2025, College Factual analyzed 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 194 associate degrees in heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration engineering technology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology School for Your Associate Degree
The hvac 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good 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.
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 heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration engineering technology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration 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.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration engineering technology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration engineering technology students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology Schools
The hvac school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology in the Southwest Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration engineering technology.
Top Southwest Region Schools for an Associate in HVAC
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology Related Rankings by Major
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Technology is one of 6 different types of Environmental Control Technology programs to choose from.
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.
The hvac 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors: