Education Atlas

College Scorecard · field of study · all U.S. colleges

Is an Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 8 colleges (8 of 8 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after
$46,961

Graduates only, early career.$52,107 two years out.

Median federal debt
$22,875

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay
0.48×

48% of a first year's earnings.

Typical debt is well under a single year's early-career pay.

The college you pick moves this a lot

The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians report early-career pay between $42,578 and $55,774 — a spread of $13,196 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $42,578 median $46,961 75th pct $55,774

Where an Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

The 8 programs with the highest reported pay one year after completion. This reflects who enrolls and where they live as much as the program itself — it is not a causal quality ranking.

Purdue University-Main Campus IN $67,788 $16,750 debt
Indiana University-Indianapolis IN $62,431 $19,500 debt
University of Southern Mississippi MS $53,555 $22,875 debt
New England Institute of Technology RI $48,854 $36,849 debt
University of Hartford CT $45,068 $27,000 debt
SUNY College of Technology at Alfred NY $38,046 $26,211 debt
Farmingdale State College NY $34,001 $16,450 debt

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians, from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn (your college, effort, and local job market vary enormously — see the spread above), not lifetime earnings (it is measured 1–2 years after completion, early career), not proof the major caused the outcome (who enters a field differs by field — selection, not causation), and not a "best majors" ranking: earnings are one dimension of worth, not the whole of it. Teaching and social work pay far less than the fields at the top of this list and matter enormously. Earnings cover federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report.

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release). · explore this field on the official Scorecard