Mining & Petroleum Technology isn't the most popular associate program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #154 in popularity out of 328 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Mining & Petroleum Technology Associate Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 145 associate degrees in mining & petroleum technology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Mining & Petroleum Technology School for Your Associate Degree
The mining & petroleum 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. 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.
Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 mining & petroleum technology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of mining & petroleum 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 easy is it for mining & petroleum technology to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mining & petroleum technology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for mining & petroleum 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 Mining & Petroleum Technology Associate Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
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Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in mining & petroleum technology. Located in the town of Okmulgee, OSU Institute of Technology is a public university with a small student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the mining & petroleum tech program earn around $59,357 in their early career salary.
Nicholls State University is a wonderful choice for students interested in an associate degree in mining & petroleum technology. Nicholls State University is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Thibodaux.
Those mining & petroleum technology students who get their associate degree from Nicholls State University earn $5,111 more than the average mining & petroleum tech grad.
Houston Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in mining & petroleum technology. Located in the city of Houston, Houston Community College is a public college with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the mining & petroleum tech program state that they receive average early career income of $47,146.
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).
The mining & petroleum 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
