Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians at Mt San Antonio College

In California's competitive drafting and design technology field, this associate's degree faces a fundamental uncertainty problem. With both earnings and debt figures estimated from national peer programs rather than Mt San Antonio's actual graduate outcomes, parents are essentially betting on whether this school's results mirror the national median of $45,434 first-year earnings and roughly $13,000 in debt. That debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29 would be manageable if the estimates hold true—graduates could theoretically pay off loans within a year or two of focused repayment. But there's no way to verify whether Mt San Antonio's program actually delivers those results.

The real concern isn't the estimated numbers themselves, which look reasonable on paper, but what the data suppression signals. When the Department of Education withholds outcomes because too few students complete or respond to surveys, it raises questions about program size, completion rates, or graduate tracking. Even among California's 59 programs in this field, none have publicly reported data we can use for comparison—an unusual pattern that suggests either very small cohorts statewide or tracking challenges specific to these technical programs.

For parents, this means investing in a program where you're flying blind on actual outcomes. If your child is committed to drafting and design work, verify directly with Mt San Antonio: How many students actually complete this degree each year? Where do they get hired? What do starting salaries look like locally? Without concrete answers, you're relying entirely on hope that this program performs at least as well as its national peers.