Architectural Engineering at University of Nebraska at Omaha

The debt picture here looks surprisingly strong—$19,630 falls well below the national median of $25,701 for architectural engineering bachelor's programs, putting it in the 95th percentile nationally. When paired with estimated first-year earnings around $73,000 (based on a dozen similar programs nationwide), that's a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.27, comfortably under the 1.0 threshold where loan payments become burdensome.

The caveat matters: we're working with estimates here because the graduate pool is too small to generate reported data. Similar architectural engineering programs nationally suggest starting salaries in the low-to-mid $70,000s, which would make the debt load manageable. But without actual outcomes from UNO's specific program—which may differ in curriculum focus, industry connections, or placement rates—there's real uncertainty about whether graduates will hit those benchmarks. The accessible admission profile (87% acceptance, 1120 SAT average, serving a substantial Pell population) suggests the school prioritizes access, though it doesn't tell us about program rigor or employer demand for its graduates.

If your child can graduate with debt near $20,000 and land work in the $70,000 range, this represents solid value for an engineering credential. The risk is that the actual outcomes could vary significantly from the peer-program estimates, and with only two schools offering this major in Nebraska, there's limited local data to validate the numbers.