If you plan on getting your associate degree in drafting & design engineering technology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #48 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 65 associate degrees in drafting & design engineering technology to qualified students.
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Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for drafting & design engineering technology students working on their associate degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Associate Degree Schools in Iowa list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Des Moines Area Community College is a good decision for individuals pursuing an associate degree in drafting & design engineering technology. Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a very large student population.
Soon after graduating, design engineering tech associate recipients usually make about $44,886 in their early careers.
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).
by our College Data Analytics Team