Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Tech's architecture program manages to stay competitive while keeping debt manageable, though the small graduating class means these numbers could shift considerably year to year. With first-year earnings of $47,542, graduates edge past both the national and Illinois medians—ranking in the 60th percentile statewide. More importantly, the $31,000 debt load sits well below what most architecture students carry, placing this program in the 5th percentile nationally for debt burden.

The earnings trajectory looks solid, with a 28% jump to $61,044 by year four, suggesting graduates find their footing in Chicago's architecture market. That debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.65 means your child would owe less than seven months of their starting salary—far better than the typical architecture graduate faces. Among Illinois programs, this outperforms University of Illinois Chicago significantly while carrying just moderately more debt than the state average.

The critical caveat: with fewer than 30 graduates in this data set, a few outliers could skew these figures substantially. Still, the combination of reasonable debt and middle-of-the-pack earnings that grow steadily makes this a defensible choice for a student committed to architecture, especially if they plan to work in Chicago where Illinois Tech's local reputation matters most.