Mining & Petroleum Technology is about average in terms of popularity for associate degrees programs. That is, it ranks #154 out of the 328 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Louisiana to determine which ones were the best for mining & petroleum technology students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 53 associate degrees in mining & petroleum technology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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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 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 complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for mining & petroleum technology students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Mining & Petroleum Technology Associate Degree Schools in Louisiana ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Nicholls State University is a great decision for students interested in an associate degree in mining & petroleum technology. Nicholls State University is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Thibodaux.
Associate students who receive their degree from the mining & petroleum tech program make an average of $63,555 for their early career.
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).
