Quick answer:22 colleges within 100 miles of Saint Charles, Illinois award a drafting and cad degree, the nearest about 7 miles away (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
Drafting and CAD Program Access Near Saint Charles, Illinois
Distance from Saint Charles
Colleges awarding this degree
Within 25 miles
7
Within 50 miles
17
Within 100 miles
22
Within 250 miles
56
Source: IPEDS Completions, 2024, counting institutions that reported awarding this degree, joined to IPEDS institution coordinates. Distances are straight-line.
Saint Charles sits inside a dense cluster: 7 colleges within 25 miles award this degree, and 22 within 100 miles. Commuting to class is realistic here, which matters if you want the campus lab time rather than a fully online program.
Choosing A Drafting and CAD Program From Saint Charles
The subject matter does not change by location: CAD and 3D modeling, drafting standards and dimensioning, and discipline-specific detailing for architectural, civil and mechanical work. What changes is how you take it. Ask each college whether the program holds accreditation from the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET, where the program is engineering technology, how much of the coursework is delivered online, and which components require you on campus. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Colleges Near Saint Charles
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools
within 29 miles, nearest first in 25-mile
distance bands, then by BOC Score inside each band with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
#1
Waubonsee Community College
📍
Sugar Grove, IL
•11.5 miles away•BOC Score
59.6
Tuition$3,504 in-state / $10,477 out-of-state
Contact
Rte 47 at Waubonsee Drive Sugar Grove, IL 60554-9454
What Architectural and Civil Drafters Earn in Illinois
Architectural and Civil Drafters in Illinois earn a median $58,240 per year against $66,150 nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The Illinois median for architectural and civil drafters is $58,240 per year, below the national median of $66,150, on state employment of 1,310 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
These are statewide figures. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish wages at city level, so no page can tell you what this job pays in Saint Charles specifically. For the metro-level picture where it is published, and the full percentile spread, see the Illinois page.
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - institutions awarding this degree, with IPEDS institution coordinates
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Architectural and Civil Drafters (SOC 17-3011)
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
