Even though many use them interchangeably, auto mechanics and technicians are not the same. Here are their differences: automotive technician vs. mechanic.
The 10 best automotive trade schools in the nation
There are many factors that you must account for when choosing a trade school. Location, cost, future job opportunities, specializations, training style, financial aid options and housing should all factor into your decision making process. While it’s hard to definitively name the best automotive trade schools in the nation, we put together a list of the best auto mechanic schools based on value and return on investment, which should help you with your search.
We looked at the top overall trade schools in the nation and then narrowed them down by eliminating those who did not offer accredited automotive degrees or their training did not equal the rest of the field. All of the schools listed here are accredited and offer the education you will need to start a career as an auto mechanic. This includes the training you will need in order to earn your ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) certification which will help you on your way to earn more pay as an automotive technician.
Many of these schools offer a wide variety of automotive degrees such as automotive technology, diesel technology, engine performance, diagnostic training, collision repair, and auto body. Some of them even include motorcycle technology and different agricultural equipment technologies. To ensure students get their career path on track, these schools have partnered with manufacturers as well to create specialized training programs from diesel powered Caterpillar to the American classic, Ford. These are the best automotive trade schools that will get you on track to starting your dream career as an auto mechanic.
“We are here for one purpose, I wouldn’t even say to get students jobs, but to start students’ careers. That’s all we do.”
In order to build our rankings of the best automotive schools by value, we needed a few parameters to help rank the schools. Since rating the quality of education is quite difficult, we decided we would look at the success of students and their return on investment (ROI) in their tuition costs. Therefore, we landed on the five parameters that we scored automotive colleges on: average cost of tuition, typical debt-load of graduates, average early career salary, average mid-career salary and graduation rate.
While these don’t account for all of the factors, these five criteria give a great picture into the success of students after graduating from these schools and help students evaluate whether a trade school is worth the cost or not. Keep in mind that all of these schools were judged as a whole and that certain degree programs affect these statistics. Obviously, these are averages and these numbers are not guaranteed for any student. In order to find all of this information we used two major resources, College Scorecard and Payscale. These provided us all the information and some checks and balances for accurate information to determine the best automotive trade schools.
Check out the best auto mechanic schools to help with your evaluation process!
If you have any questions about the best automotive trade schools, feel free to contact us below. We will be happy to help you with your search!
In the end, the best auto mechanic schools are Frontier Community College, North Central Kansas Technical College, Lake Area Technical Institute, Rosedale Technical College,Mitchell Technical Institute, Bates Technical College, Salina Area Technical College, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, State Technical College of Missouri, and Northwest Iowa Community College.
Make sure you browse our site to see all the resources we have to offer you as you seek the right trade school to earn your degree to become an auto mechanic. Don’t see a school in your state in this list of the 10 best automotive trade schools? Don’t worry, check out our full list of schools offering auto degrees below! Trying to figure out how to apply for financial aid or earn scholarships and grants? Make sure you head over to our scholarships page where you can find outside scholarships and even apply for our own, the Future Mechanic Grant. Maybe you just want more information on how to simply become a mechanic, we have a page dedicated to teaching you just that! As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns just reach out to us and we will gladly help.
Even though many use them interchangeably, auto mechanics and technicians are not the same. Here are their differences: automotive technician vs. mechanic.
There are many different types of training you can get in automotive technology. Here we look at a certificate vs. associate degree in automotive technology.
Whether you are off to mechanic school or starting to work on your own cars, you will need automotive repair books. These are the best auto mechanic books.