can't advise on real numbers without knowing where you will study. Do a real budget using after-tax spending so you can see what you need for food, rent, insurance, utilities, etc.

You're going to have to figure out how to survive on less than $35,500 - that's a full time salary for entry level architects in many areas.

Lots of students work part time jobs during school and intern over summers. I doubt it will get you $35,500/yr, but it could be enough to survive. Whether you can do it really depends on your own work ethic and level of involvement in the program. It also depends on the school - but really it can be done if you focus when you do your work.

In my experience, the students who held part time jobs while going to school tended to be less involved in studio and had less interesting work. But they all graduated and did well in their careers because they knew how to get work done efficiently. Time management is a valuable skill for employers. If you can find part time work related to architecture or construction in some way that would be a big advantage in the future.

Without any previous architecture background, you're not going to have time to work. The first couple of years you will be learning tons of new processes, skills, and techniques while applying them to design projects at the same time. As you get your bearings with drawing/modeling/digital processes, your projects will get more involved and complex, and you still probably won't have time for work outside of school.

Four to five nights a week just isn't going to happen unless you're okay with your work being terrible.

Agreed with Midlander about cost of living, and PBS about the working.

 

Thank you both for your thoughtful replies. I will definitely have to learn to live on less. My primary goal in choosing a school is to study somewhere that I'd like to live after graduation. It's early, but right now my top choices are the University of Colorado (Denver), University of Washington (Seattle), University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), and Montana State University (Bozeman). I might throw NCSU in there as well (Raleigh) and/or Oregon (Eugene/Portland). All of those (except for MT and NC maybe) are more expensive than where I currently live in Florida.

PBS: I'm taking about a year's worth of first-year architecture classes as a non-degree seeking student at my alma mater before applying to grad programs at the end of the year. Hopefully this will give me a bit of a head start on acclimating to the studio process and culture.

Have you considered applied to any schools in Florida? I was accepted to some more prestigious but costly universities for my grad program, and had to use the expenses as a factor. UF offered me a comparably more generous scholarship and when including in-state tuition vs out-of-state, it has saved me five figures a year in debt even though it wasn't my first choice.

I've been averaging more or less 24 hours a week at a firm while taking classes, and it hasn't been a problem. Last semester I was taking 17 credits, working during the day and teaching a class one night a week and managed to pass my classes. It's very possible and you can do it, but it's not a fun experience. Starting out in design, however, takes a while to understand how to deal with studio and I worked very little in undergrad because of the demands on my time.

Ask your school about scholarships, and yeah you're going to have to take on some debt to cover the wages lost for every hour you will be working on school stuff. I'd just recommend trying to minimize it.

That's a good idea, but unless you're taking a studio, it's not really going to help that much in terms of time. The immersive, all-consuming nature of a studio is very hard to prepare for or explain.

Here's an example of what I mean: you know how in college, most classes were weighted pretty much the same and took approximately the same amount of time (with some exceptions)? A 9 or 12-credit semester would offer substantially more free time than an 18-credit one. 

In architecture school that changes dramatically. Studio is 80-90% of where your efforts go, you never actually finish everything you had hoped to finish, and time not occupied by classes is just more time for studio. A 9-hour semester might yield exactly the same amount of free time as a 15-hour semester, just because time spent working on studio expands to fill the difference. 

Free time is non-existent to a committed architecture student.  As the years tick by in the program it never gets easier, and generally, the hours never change.  You'll be lucky to be able to maybe work on the weekends, so focus on jobs you can make the most at in the shortest amount of time i.e. bartender.  If you're looking at school in the Northwest I recommend considering U of Utah or U of Idaho as well, both have decent programs for state schools, Utah is close to great skiing (the lack of free time should be considered) and Idaho is an excellent value for out of state students, not to mention providing a very strong education.  I got by on ~$20,000 a year including tuition at Idaho during grad school.  I was in state by then, but we had a large contingent of students from the Seattle area who were getting a better deal as out of state students then they'd get at UW or WSU.  Just know your priorities, and be ready to forgo the "college life" because you won't have time for that.

I worked upwards of 25 to 30 hours per week in undergrad... first few years in retail and the last 2 in an actual office all while balancing top of class studio grades and a social life. Indeed there were a few long nights every single week but it's not impossible if the student learns to prioritize and work efficiently.
 

i was a graduate research assistant, whatever that means.  you might also look into becoming a TA, but i'm sure you'd need at least a year or 2 under your belt first.

the school might have some sort of job-placement thing like that.  for a while i worked for the college of business in a computer lab.  it doesn't pay so much in terms of money, but they offer cuts tuition cuts and such to help make school closer to affordable.

I knew a number of people who worked full time during undergrad. Most of which did poorly from an academic standpoint, though they all graduated. There were a couple who did fine though.

However, I don't think I know anyone in grad school who worked more than maybe 15 hours a week. Most of them made very little money from this, which always made me question the wisdom of it. On the other hand, there were people who got significant tuition breaks from working as a TA, but those were difficult positions to get.

I think you have to start with the assumption that you won't be able to work, then you can test the waters after you are there.

PBS: Sorry, I should have been more clear; I am taking one year's worth of undergrad studio classes, so Arch Studio 1 and 2 in the Spring (current) and Fall semesters, respectively. During the summer I hope to take a CAD class as well.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, this helps to get a better idea of what's feasible. Perhaps I'll be lucky enough to get a TA position after my first year.