Quick answer:No college within 100 miles of Great Falls, Montana awards a drafting and cad degree - the nearest campus is about 103 miles away (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Online programs that enroll Montana students are the realistic route, and they are what the comparison below covers.
Compare drafting and cad programs you can start from Great Falls:
Drafting and CAD Program Access Near Great Falls, Montana
Distance from Great Falls
Colleges awarding this degree
Within 25 miles
0
Within 50 miles
0
Within 100 miles
0
Within 250 miles
3
Source: IPEDS Completions, 2024, counting institutions that reported awarding this degree, joined to IPEDS institution coordinates. Distances are straight-line.
No college within 100 miles of Great Falls awards this degree - the nearest campus is roughly 103 miles away. From Great Falls this is an online degree in practice, which is how most working adults take it anyway, and the comparison widget above covers programs that enroll Montana students online.
Choosing A Drafting and CAD Program From Great Falls
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 Great Falls
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 2 schools
within 127 miles, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
2 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.
What Architectural and Civil Drafters Earn in Montana
Architectural and Civil Drafters in Montana earn a median $65,750 per year against $66,150 nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The Montana median for architectural and civil drafters is $65,750 per year, below the national median of $66,150, on state employment of 600 (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 Great Falls specifically. For the metro-level picture where it is published, and the full percentile spread, see the Montana 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/.
