Study Architecture 
ProPEL July 2014
ACSA members may think of our peers as the 127 U.S. and 11 Canadian schools with accredited architecture programs, but prospective students and the public are seeing a much broader context. For example, there are over 250 certificate and associate’s level programs just in architectural drafting, and over 300 programs at all levels in a range of architectural and building engineering, sciences, technology, and technologist fields. Based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with reference to data from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), this interactive map includes over 800 U.S. institutions offering over 1,800 programs in architecture and a range of related fields.
Among the things to discover in the map is that there are more non-accredited (non-professional) programs than NAAB accredited and candidate programs. Compare 156 NAAB accredited and candidate programs in 126 U.S. schools to 249 programs in 183 schools that offer a non-professional architecture major. Although most of these are pre- or post-professional programs housed in schools with one or more NAAB-accredited programs, 74 non-professional architecture and environmental design programs exist in 69 schools that do not offer a professional architecture program. These are mostly at the bachelor’s level, but also include programs at the graduate, certificate, and associate’s levels.
Zoom in on the map below to see institutions near you, or use the filters to find out which schools have the lowest net price, or where undergraduates are most likely to study on a part time basis. When you use the filters or select a subset of institutions on the map, the charts will update to reflect just the institutions you’ve selected.
Keep in mind that these institutional statistics are from NCES and apply to institutions across all majors, so may not reflect the specific characteristics of architecture and related majors.
You can also explore this data as a list instead of a map.
Institutional Graduation Rate by Net Price
The two scatterplots below focus on just two institutional metrics: graduation rate and net price, color-coded by Carnegie classification and funding type. (Net price is a metric that reflects the cost of tuition and fees minus the average amount of student aid received by students who receive aid, and is meant to better reflect the actual cost of attendance for undergraduates who are eligible for student aid.) You can filter institutions according to the architecture-related majors they offer, but keep in mind that these are again institution-level statistics, and that programs in architecture or related majors at any given school may have different graduation rates and net prices.
Although there is considerable variation, the overall trend in these two charts shows that institutions with a higher net price are somewhat more likely to have a higher graduation rate. This is not necessarily a causal relationship, as the net price is likely correlated with other factors, such as the socioeconomic or demographic characteristics of students who more often attend a given institution.
When we look at how this breaks down by Carnegie classification, there is considerable variation but also some clusters. In particular, the dense green cluster indicates that Associate’s level institutions consistently tend to be less expensive and have lower graduation rates than other kinds of institutions. Within each Carnegie classification, institutions with a higher net price are somewhat more likely to have a higher graduation rate.
Breaking down these same metrics by funding type, we see two distinct clusters for public and private-not-for-profit schools, as well as more variation among the few private, for-profit institutions offering majors in architecture and related fields. For public institutions, at higher net prices the graduation rate tends to be considerably higher. As their price points and graduation rates are both typically higher, this trend is not as visible to the eye for private not-for-profit institutions, although numerically there is a correlation.
For data on the graduates of these programs, visit Graduates and Institutions and Ethnicity and Gender of Graduates.
To see more data from the NCES, see their College Navigator for a searchable interface, or their Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Data Center to find a wide range of statistics and downloadable data. Note that the American University of Sharjah, which offers an accredited B.Arch, is not included in the above chart, as it is located in the United Arab Emirates and not included in the NCES data system. The other 126 institutions with NAAB accredited or candidate programs are located in U.S. states or territories, and are included here.
Our goal in this interactive is to visualize NCES data on institutions offering programs in architecture and related fields, according to the NCES Classification of Instructional Programs, while distinguishing between NAAB-accredited and non-accredited architecture programs by referencing data from NAAB.
To let us know how you are using this data and what you’d like to see in the future, or if you have questions or corrections, please contact Kendall Nicholson, ACSA Director of Research + Information, at knicholson@acsa-arch.org.
Return to the NCES Data on U.S. Programs in Architecture and Related Fields page or to Data Resources.
Kendall Nicholson
Director of Research + Information
202-785-2324
knicholson@acsa-arch.org
