Best Manufacturer-Sponsored Mechanic Programs for 2027
120 accredited programs that offer manufacturer sponsored automotive training, ranked for 2027 on cost, graduate earnings, completion and track record. Pasadena City College (Pasadena, CA) is first.
By Trevor Rupe, Contributor at Savo Media Group Updated
At a Glance
120 programs list at least one manufacturer program on their accreditation record or on the manufacturer’s own partner-school list.
Most common: Mopar CAP (67), GM ASEP (44), Honda PACT (36), Ford ASSET (29), Toyota T-TEN (29) and John Deere TECH (3).
The median program charges about $4,438 a year in tuition and fees.
A manufacturer program adds brand-specific training to an accredited trade program; it is not scored.
Manufacturer sponsored automotive training is a fact about a program, not a score, so it never moves a program up this list.
The Top 10 Manufacturer-Sponsored Programs
Each program here offers manufacturer sponsored automotive training on top of its accredited trade program. The 25 highest-scoring programs of 120. Each score is out of 100 and comes from the method below.
Rank 1
Automotive Technology
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, CA
Score76.6
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Associate in Science
Honda PACT
Cost
$1,180a year, in-state
Graduation rate
48%within 150% of normal time
Awards
171in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #2 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Earns its place with a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,180 a year, in-state) and 171 awards in 2024-25, among the larger automotive programs. Manufacturer programs: Honda PACT.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 2
Automotive Technology
Fox Valley Technical College
Appleton, WI
Score75.8
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Associate Degree (AAS), 64 credit hours
GM ASEP
Cost
$5,040a year, in-state
Graduation rate
65%within 150% of normal time
Graduate earnings
$62,822median four years after completing, certificate level; school-wide across its mechanic programs
Awards
99in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #3 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Scores well on graduates earning a median $62,822, a 65% graduation rate and 99 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: GM ASEP.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional), College Scorecard and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 3
Automotive Service Technology
Tarrant County College District
Fort Worth, TX
Score75.1
ASE Accredited Program
Public
AAS
Mopar CAP
Toyota T-TEN
Cost
$1,863a year, in-district
Graduation rate
34%within 150% of normal time
Graduate earnings
$70,953median four years after completing, certificate level; school-wide across its mechanic programs
Awards
87in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #4 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Stands out for a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,863 a year, in-district), graduates earning a median $70,953 and 87 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: Mopar CAP and Toyota T-TEN.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional), College Scorecard and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 4
Automotive Service Technology
Los Angeles Pierce College
Woodland Hills, CA
Score73.0
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Automotive Service Technology
Mopar CAP
Cost
$1,238a year, in-state
Graduation rate
46%within 150% of normal time
Awards
82in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #8 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Earns its place with a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,238 a year, in-state) and 82 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: Mopar CAP.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 5
Automotive Technology
Cypress College
Cypress, CA
Score71.1
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Associate in Science, 73 units
Toyota T-TEN
Cost
$1,150a year, in-state
Graduation rate
37%within 150% of normal time
Awards
258in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #9 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Scores well on a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,150 a year, in-state) and 258 awards in 2024-25, among the larger automotive programs. Manufacturer programs: Toyota T-TEN.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 6
Automotive Technology
Citrus College
Glendora, CA
Score70.3
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Associate degree
Toyota T-TEN
Cost
$1,204a year, in-state
Graduation rate
41%within 150% of normal time
Awards
76in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #10 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Stands out for a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,204 a year, in-state) and 76 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: Toyota T-TEN.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 7
Automotive Technology
Wichita State University-Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology
Wichita, KS
Score69.2
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Automotive Technology
Honda PACT
Mopar CAP
Cost
$7,238a year
Graduation rate
43%within 150% of normal time
Graduate earnings
$71,192median four years after completing, certificate level; school-wide across its mechanic programs
Awards
70in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #11 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Ranked on graduates earning a median $71,192, a 43% graduation rate and 70 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: Honda PACT and Mopar CAP.
Graduate earnings: four years after finishing, certificate level; school-wide, covering its mechanic programs
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional), College Scorecard and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 8
Automotive Technology
American River College
Sacramento, CA
Score69.1
ASE Accredited Program
Public
A.S. in Automotive Technology, 49 units
Honda PACT
Cost
$1,288a year, in-state
Graduation rate
37%within 150% of normal time
Awards
70in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #12 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Ranked on a price of $1,288 a year, in-state, a 37% graduation rate and 70 awards in 2024-25. Manufacturer programs: Honda PACT.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 9
Automotive Technology
Cerritos College
Norwalk, CA
Score68.8
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Automotive Technology: General Technician (A.S.), 42-43 units
Ford ASSET
GM ASEP
Cost
$1,364a year, in-state
Graduation rate
31%within 150% of normal time
Awards
196in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #13 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Stands out for a price toward the low end of ranked automotive programs ($1,364 a year, in-state) and 196 awards in 2024-25, among the larger automotive programs. Manufacturer programs: Ford ASSET and GM ASEP.
Source: IPEDS 2024-25 (provisional) and the ASE accreditation list.
Rank 10
Automotive Technology
Illinois Central College
East Peoria, IL
Score68.2
ASE Accredited Program
Public
Associate’s Degree
GM ASEP
Cost
$4,800a year, in-district
Graduation rate
49%within 150% of normal time
Graduate earnings
$79,029median four years after completing, associate’s level; school-wide across its mechanic programs
Awards
17in 2024-25
Why it ranks here
Ranked #14 of 415 automotive programs nationally. Ranked on a price of $4,800 a year, in-district, graduates earning a median $79,029 and a 49% graduation rate. Manufacturer programs: GM ASEP.
Graduate earnings: four years after finishing, associate’s level; school-wide, covering its mechanic programs
Each program is scored out of 100 on five published measures, and the scores are absolute: no program is scaled to the top
one, so a score of 70 means the same thing on every list and every state page. This list is in score order. A program is on this list when it is a ranked program with a manufacturer training program on its ASE Education Foundation listing or on the manufacturer’s own list of partner schools.
The five scored factors and their weights
Factor
Weight
What it reads
Cost
25 of 100
What a year of tuition and fees costs, compared with every other ranked program in the same area.
Graduate Earnings
25 of 100
What the school’s graduates in mechanic and repair programs earn, from federal data.
Completion
20 of 100
The share of the school’s first-time, full-time students who finish within 150% of normal time.
Track Record
15 of 100
How many credentials the program awards in a year.
Program Reputation
15 of 100
A 0 to 4 rating of how employers in the trade regard the program, made by Cloudflare’s Clef language model from the same few facts for every program.
Ties are broken by Cost, then Graduate Earnings, then school name. Scores are shown to one decimal and programs are ordered by the unrounded score, so two programs can show the same score at different ranks. How We Rank gives the formulas, the data sources and the disclosures for each figure.
Manufacturer Programs and Accreditation
Every program here is accredited by the ASE Education Foundation or is an FAA-certificated Part 147 school. A manufacturer partnership sits on top of that: the ASE Education Foundation’s list tags programs with their manufacturer program type (Ford ASSET, GM ASEP, Toyota T-TEN, Honda PACT, Mopar CAP and others), and several manufacturers publish their own lists of partner schools.
A manufacturer tag is a fact about the program, not a score. It never moves a program up this list: the order is the same national score the trade rankings use, and sponsorship from the school or the manufacturer cannot change it.
What the Numbers Show About Manufacturer Programs
The list covers 120 manufacturer-sponsored programs at 119 schools in 44 states and territories. The median school graduates 34% of its first-time, full-time students, counted over one and a half times the normal program length. The median program charges about $4,438 a year in tuition and fees, from $1,146 a year, in-state at San Diego Miramar College (San Diego, CA) to $31,750 for the 9-month program at WyoTech (Laramie, WY).
106 of the 120 programs award associate’s degrees, and the rest award certificates. 113 are at public institutions and 4 at private for-profit schools. The states with the most ranked programs are California (14), Texas (12) and Michigan (6).
What Manufacturer Sponsored Automotive Training Is
Manufacturer sponsored automotive training adds one brand’s vehicles and procedures to an accredited automotive program. The ASE Education Foundation’s list tags programs with their manufacturer program type, and the manufacturers’ own partner-school lists name them too.
Every program here is accredited. The brand training sits on top of that and is not scored, so this list uses the same national scores as the trade rankings.
To compare manufacturer sponsored automotive training across schools, read the manufacturer programs named on each card, then the price with its unit, the graduation rate and the graduate earnings.
These programs train for the mechanic trades covered in the career guides, and the salary pages give BLS May 2025 pay for each trade by state and metro area.
Manufacturer sponsored automotive training leads to the same automotive technician career; the guide covers ASE certification and the other credentials.
Questions About Manufacturer-Sponsored Programs
What is a manufacturer-sponsored mechanic program?
It is a college or technical school program that trains students on one brand’s vehicles and procedures, in partnership with the manufacturer, alongside the standard automotive curriculum. Ford ASSET, GM ASEP, Toyota T-TEN, Honda PACT and Mopar CAP are examples.
Does a manufacturer program make a school rank higher?
No. The list is built from the same national scores as the trade rankings, and a manufacturer program is not one of the five scored factors.
How much does manufacturer-sponsored school cost?
Among the 120 programs on this list, the median reports about $4,438 a year in tuition and fees for 2024-25, from $1,146 a year, in-state at San Diego Miramar College in San Diego, CA to $31,750 for the 9-month program at WyoTech in Laramie, WY. Community colleges that charge by the year sit at the low end; schools that price the whole program show that price and its length on each card, and the yearly figure is only what the cost score reads. Books, tools and living costs are not included.
Where do the graduate earnings figures come from?
They are College Scorecard medians for the school’s graduates in mechanic and repair programs (federal field 47.06), four years after completing where that is published and one year after where it is not. Scorecard pools every mechanic and repair program a school offers at that credential level, and a chain’s campuses share one figure, so a card’s earnings figure describes the school’s graduates in these trades, not one program alone.
What is manufacturer sponsored automotive training?
It is brand-specific training run with a manufacturer, such as Ford ASSET, GM ASEP, Toyota T-TEN, Honda PACT or Mopar CAP, alongside the standard automotive curriculum at an accredited college or technical school.
Does manufacturer sponsored automotive training cost more?
The card shows each program’s own price with its unit. Manufacturer sponsored automotive training is not scored, so the price is read the same way as for any other program on the ranking.
Sources for Manufacturer-Sponsored Programs
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions (awards July 2024 to June 2025, provisional), tuition and fees for 2024-25, graduation rates within 150% of normal time and the institutional directory.
This site earns money from sponsored school listings served by the education ad network Esyoh, which are marked as ads wherever they appear. Schools pay to appear in those listings, not in the rankings: a listing is not scored, and no listing can change a ranking. Rankings come from published records, and program details from each school’s own published pages.
