Impact Aspiring Architects

The Debt

Tens of millions of Americans owe over $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. This is as true for aspiring architects as anyone. According to an American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) poll of recent graduate students, respondents owed 33% more in accumulated student loan debt than the national average.

Becoming an architect is an increasingly costly proposition. Join us in helping build a pathway to debt relief and financial literacy. This initiative is part of a strategic effort by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Architects Foundation to lead graduates to a more affordable, healthy, and equitable future in the profession of Architecture.

My Story

When I finished graduate school in 2013, I accumulated five figures in student debt. Compared to my emerging professional peers, I felt extremely blessed to have accrued only that sum thanks to a mixture of scholarships, grants and working in the industry since age 15. Being married to another architect, dual incomes was helpful...if we weren’t living in one of the most expensive metro areas in the country. The average cost of housing was near 50% of our take-home pay, well over the 35% max that is the recommended norm. Such is the state of starting salaries in the profession. Coupled with the student loans, paying such a large percentage of your take home pay eats away at your major life goals. Many of our fellow architects put off marriage, creating a business or starting a family. Building our nest egg was a struggle, pushing us to postpone buying a home and had us turn down opportunities to work abroad and pursuing a design fellowship. We’ve purposely put off growing our family until we both reached a level of financial stability that has eluded our peers. Parenthood would have to wait till that debt was paid off, which we've thankfully achieved. Many other emerging professionals have more severe stories of how student debt has been a crushing weight in their life. It's my hope that we can help those most likely to leave the profession as a result of these challenges.

Advocacy and Action

The AIA and others are advocating to address the root of student loan debt. But how can the rest of us enact meaningful change, however small yet impactful, now? It all starts with a donation.

Every dollar counts. Give what you can when you can. Every little bit helps the next generation of aspiring architects that will lead this profession to greater heights.

The Architects Foundation has started a new debt relief program to support recent graduates. Help us raise $30,000 to launch!

So how can you help?

Every dollar counts. Give what you can when you can. Every little bit helps the next generation of aspiring architects that will lead this profession to greater heights.

The Architects Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 59-3819154. Learn more about the Architects Foundation at architectsfoundation.org

Learn about AIA's advocacy efforts to reduce student loan debt