Architectural Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania College of Technology

Pennsylvania College of Technology's Architectural Sciences program comes with a significant caveat: fewer than 30 recent graduates reported data, making these numbers less reliable than most. That said, what we see suggests graduates earn about $4,000 less than both the national and Pennsylvania medians for this field—landing just below the middle of the pack statewide despite being one of only four Pennsylvania programs tracked.

At $27,000 in median debt, graduates aren't borrowing more than peers elsewhere, and the 0.59 debt-to-earnings ratio means students owe roughly seven months of their first-year salary. That's manageable on paper, but the concern is whether these earnings grow. Starting at $45,584 in a field where the top quarter nationally makes $56,000+ suggests graduates may need to be strategic about where they work post-graduation—metropolitan markets typically pay substantially more for architectural services than rural areas like Williamsport.

For families considering this program, the small sample size makes it hard to draw firm conclusions. If your student is drawn to Penn College's hands-on approach and plans to stay in central Pennsylvania, these modest earnings might align with local cost of living. But families expecting architectural technology to be a high-earning path should recognize that graduates here start well below peers at Temple or Thomas Jefferson, where first-year earnings are $5,000-$10,000 higher.