Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians at Minnesota State Community and Technical College

Minnesota State Community and Technical College's drafting program graduates start at $45,000—slightly below the Minnesota median of $47,552 for this degree. That puts it in the bottom half of the 14 Minnesota schools offering this program, trailing stronger alternatives like Hennepin Technical College ($49,539) and St. Cloud Technical ($45,565). For parents comparing options, this represents about $4,500 less in starting pay than what top in-state programs deliver.

The debt load of $12,513 is reasonable, working out to just 28 cents of debt for every dollar earned in the first year. That's a manageable burden that graduates should be able to pay down quickly. However, the small sample size here—fewer than 30 graduates—means these numbers could shift significantly with more data, and individual outcomes may vary more than usual.

If your child has already been accepted here and is committed to drafting as a career, the debt-to-earnings ratio won't derail their finances. But if you're still shopping around Minnesota programs, Hennepin Technical offers 10% higher starting pay for roughly the same debt burden. This program works as a backup option, but it's not the strongest value among Minnesota's technical colleges for aspiring drafting technicians.