Salary will depend on major and the student not as much the school.
I second @Engineer80 I’ve worked in manufacturing facilities all around the US and met many aircraft mechanics (ex AF) turned manufacturing mechanic. You can make good money in the blue collar world, but not 200k (ultra rare).
For example: Nestle, P&G the companies I know well routinely pay their mechanics and controls technicians between $31-$40/hr, full benefits, plus overtime.
So, you can easily make 80-100k/yr at these jobs and most do.
@emptynesteryet - Yes, 80-100k is certainly doable. 70-80k starting out as an aircraft mechanic just having been licensed is very rare and 200k is extremely rare. When you say you met aircraft mechanics turned manufacturing mechanic, do you mean in industries other than aircraft manufacturing?
I thought we were discussing aircraft mechanics, what do controls technicians (you mean the people who operate the machinery in the plant?) have to do with this?
OP - meet with department heads. My son’s #1 choice wasted a lot of our time (we came from out-of-state) talking about the professors’ ongoing golf competition; he even walked us down the hall to view the results. HUGE turn-off. His #2 choice explained their vision for the next few years, showed us the updated curriculum, spoke directly to my son about his interests, etc. Needless to say, #2 quickly became #1.
@Engineer80 I read that info in a recent article. But your points are noted. My point, however, was that if one is looking for the best ROI, that often is found in professions that do not require college. Or that require vocational training.
We visited our D’s top-choice college (which she was admitted to and is currently attending) and she was able to sit-in on a few classes, a very important reason why you should visit when classes are in session.
We also were able to have meetings with the Dean of Admissions in his office at her top-choice college (we requested an office call with him) and the director of admissions at another college we visited that was high on her preference list met us in the lobby prior to a college tour and we had a 20 minute chat. It’s hard to get those opportunities during open houses and other events when there are lots of visiting students and parents on campus.
Both of these visits were incredibly important to us because we gained insights on how admissions decisions are made (the Dean of Admissions was on the panel that reviewed applicants and has a vote, and he also recommended that our D meet the regional admission representative who at that college is the “advocate” for applicants from her region and has another vote on the admission panel).
We also walked the campuses that we visited on our own before the formal guided tours to gain some initial impressions of students, atmosphere, etc., usually on the day of our arrival and a day before the formal orientation program. That helped us gain insights and questions to ask the tour guides the following day. We also visited the cities where the colleges were located to gain insights on the local community, shopping, transportation options, etc.
@Al73 We had admissions set up the appointments. You just need to be clear with them that is who you’d like to meet with. We didn’t want a lot of back and forth emailing with the dept. heads trying to set it up (didn’t want to make a negative impression in any way).