Precision Metal Working is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #30 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Precision Metal Working Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 654 associate degrees in precision metal working to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Precision Metal Working School for Your Associate Degree
The precision metal working associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality precision metal working program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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.
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 many resources a school devotes to precision metal working students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other precision metal working 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 much debt precision metal working 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 precision metal working related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for precision metal working students working on their associate degree.
The precision metal working 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 Precision Metal Working Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
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It's hard to beat Ivy Tech Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in precision metal working. Located in the city of Indianapolis, Ivy Tech Community College is a public college with a very large student population.
Associate recipients from the precision metal working major at Ivy Tech Community College make $4,724 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Fox Valley Technical College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in precision metal working. FVTC is a large public college located in the medium-sized suburb of Appleton.
Associate students who receive their degree from the precision metal working program earn an average of $52,449 in their early career salary.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in precision metal working needs to take a look at Ferris State University. Located in the town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the precision metal working major at Ferris State University make $5,243 more than the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Vincennes University is a large public university located in the remote town of Vincennes.
Those precision metal working students who get their associate degree from Vincennes University earn $3,340 more than the average precision metal working student.
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 precision metal working associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality precision metal working program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
