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.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Precision Metal Working Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 52 associate degrees in precision metal working 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 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 South Dakota.
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Lake Area Technical Institute is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in precision metal working. LATI is a small public school located in the remote town of Watertown.
Associate recipients from the precision metal working major at Lake Area Technical Institute earn $2,860 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in precision metal working has to look into Western Dakota Technical Institute. Western Dakota Tech is a small public school located in the small city of Rapid City.
After graduation, precision metal working associate recipients generally make an average of $37,717 in the first five years of their 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.
