Best Value Colleges for Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
9
Schools Ranked
$49,118
Avg. Earnings
1 yrs
Best Payback
304
Graduates
How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.
| # | School | Major Earnings | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public | $67,420 | 1 yrs |
| 2 | Indiana University-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Public | $61,020 | 2 yrs |
| 3 | University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS · Public | $52,107 | 3.5 yrs |
| 4 | Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY · Public | $43,798 | 5 yrs |
| 5 | New England Institute of Technology East Greenwich, RI · Private | $53,697 | 7.3 yrs |
| 6 | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred Alfred, NY · Public | $44,356 | 8.1 yrs |
| 7 | University of Hartford West Hartford, CT · Private | $44,170 | 12 yrs |
| 8 | Ferris State University Big Rapids, MI · Public | $38,289 | 16.1 yrs |
| 9 | Vermont State University Randolph, VT · Public | $37,208 | 38.6 yrs |
Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.