Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #63 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 2025, College Factual analyzed 16 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 787 associate degrees in heavy/industrial equipment maintenance during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of heavy/industrial equipment maintenance for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality equipment maintenance program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 many resources a school devotes to heavy/industrial equipment maintenance students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other heavy/industrial equipment maintenance students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
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 heavy/industrial equipment maintenance to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized heavy/industrial equipment maintenance related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for heavy/industrial equipment maintenance 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 Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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It's hard to beat Georgia Northwestern Technical College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in heavy/industrial equipment maintenance. Georgia Northwestern Technical College is a medium-sized public college located in the small city of Rome.
Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance associate degree recipients from Georgia Northwestern Technical College get an earnings boost of approximately $7,661 above the typical income of heavy/industrial equipment maintenance graduates.
Gateway Community and Technical College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in heavy/industrial equipment maintenance. Located in the large suburb of Florence, Gateway is a public college with a small student population.
Those heavy/industrial equipment maintenance students who get their associate degree from Gateway Community and Technical College earn $11,506 more than the average equipment maintenance graduate.
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in heavy/industrial equipment maintenance. SKYCTC is a moderately-sized public college located in the small city of Bowling Green.
Associate recipients from the heavy/industrial equipment maintenance program at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College earn $3,396 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Elizabethtown, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance associate degree recipients from Elizabethtown Community and Technical College get an earnings boost of about $10,214 above the average income of heavy/industrial equipment maintenance graduates.
Located in the large city of Lexington, Bluegrass Community and Technical College is a public college with a large student population.
Associate recipients from the heavy/industrial equipment maintenance degree program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College make $9,034 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Louisville, Jefferson Community and Technical College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Those heavy/industrial equipment maintenance students who get their associate degree from Jefferson Community and Technical College earn $5,557 more than the average equipment maintenance graduate.
ICC is a small public college located in the rural area of Fulton.
Those heavy/industrial equipment maintenance students who get their associate degree from Itawamba Community College make $9,022 more than the standard equipment maintenance graduate.
Rankings in Majors Related to Equipment Maintenance
One of 7 majors within the Mechanic & Repair Technologies area of study, Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance has other similar majors worth exploring.
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.
Your choice of heavy/industrial equipment maintenance for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality equipment maintenance program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
