Cost of education is a problem for other students as well. Architecture schools don't charge fees that are much different than what you'd pay for other degrees.

What can you expect heads of schools to say? They will try to emphasize certain components of their school that are very strong. They ultimately have very little say in the cost of the degree.

Once (if ever) other degrees go down in price, so will architecture. Something catastrophic would need to happen in order to change the current trends. hmm... I wonder what?

My primary objection, I guess, would be the ever increasing lengths of education needed before one can get an M-arch. 5 years was an overkill already.

I started this because there were multiple threads with people considering turning down large scholarships to attend a different school.  Opinion seems to lean very heavily towards going with the your least expensive option. Why not give someone at the school the opportunity to explain how choosing their school will benefit you. Yes the price college in general has gotten out of hand.  Maybe my title wasn't the best choice.  The idea is more about students inquiring about their specific situation and options.  For the amount of money school costs I am surprised they do not get asked these types of questions.  I guess it comes back to the dogma that college is guaranteed to make your life better.

well jbushkey,
  as far as cost goes yes like rusty says the cost per credit hour is the same as other majors on campus,but and this is a Big But, at the undergrad level if you are in a 5 year program right off the top you can count on paying for another year for a grand total of close to 170 credit hours,  and if you took any other courses at a community college like pre requisites it could easily take your total credits close to 200! Lets not forget the cost of your supplies, which over 5 years easily went into the thousands, and no other majors on campus have that issue, even the pre meds.   Thats just the monetary cost, and lets be honest most people don't investigate which college is the best as far as actually teaching how to build or design, so these high school kids just go with the well known names. For example In Illinois, we have IIT, and IIT has the best Architecture program in illinois hands down, while I was there I would dare say the best period, but it is not a prestigious sounding name for a school.  To most it is about prestige.  Does it really matter that you got an Ivy degree or another well known degree once we start working?  It will not make you an instant good architect, how do I know? I've worked with a lot of these guys. They are nice for the most part, and its really hard for them to be snobs in this field, why? because architecture is not like getting a law or a medical degree in terms of instant respect.  You have to earn it.  By the time you get licensed, who knows what the Real cost or affect this had on your life.  I think what upsets other Majors about architecture, is that it is one of those things you do only if it is your calling in life, in other words you don't become an architect because you will be driving a Bmw a couple of years out of college, you do it because you love it. Which is really at the root of all our problems in the real world employers know this.  I dont think any other majors can say this. Can you imagine a 8 year old saying " when I grow up I want to be a brain surgeon or a personal injury lawyer". Maybe you will if the parents veer them towards that path who knows. sorry for the long thread.

ps. has archinect been taken over by just people in college these days where is everyone at?

creativity expert - what makes you say that IIT is the best program in Illinois?  Did you attend all six programs in the state in order to make that statement?

I would argue that there is no "best" school; instead, the best school is different for each candidate -- each student needs to determine how to make the decision be it cost, reputation, facilities, study abroad, etc.

In the spirit of healing from this terrible unemployment crisis in Architecture I will cordially agree with you Dr. Architecture.  I don't think my Alma Mater  is what it once was, and I did say that it was the best  "while I was there".  I did do my home work on other architecture programs, the ones that stood out based on facilities, professors, abroad programs, and just plain teaching how to build something, any ways the one that stood were in IIT, Univ. of IL urbana, University of IL chicago.  I think that also that only IIT still offers the 5 year Barch. 

Lets put all this college talk aside I think right now anyone out there struggling to stay in architecture, or struggling to work in architecture, or has an architecture degree and is working outside architecture because no one would hire them, I consider all of them to be like my compatriots, and right now is a time for getting along, finding solutions, not attacking each other.   

right now is a time for getting along, finding solutions, not attacking each other

I am glad you said that CE.  I am trying to figure out how to be more positive, but my logical mind is having a tough time when you look at current events like rising gas prices, the high rate of home vacancy, and a so called recovery that has not yet come to the middle class.

Oil prices are going down, so that's good.  Homes are screwed for a while.  Rental vacancies are super low, though, and there is tons of acquisitions going on, new projects funded and starting, rents going up.  Eventually that will have to tip into the "why pay x for rent when I can own for x".

Commercial never fell of the face of the earth, like many thought it would.  Some spots around the country are seeing actual new commercial being started. 

Who knows, but there are slowly signs of improvements. 

It's interesting what the two state schools do here:
1) UIC will only take 1 year of credit from community college transfers. And they want all the transfers to take a summer studio. 
2) UIUC will take 2 years of credit from an approved program. You need a 3.7 GPA and, if you have taken the correct sequence of classes, then you're a junior. In fact, you can begin in the Versailles program in France.
How can 2 state universities have such different policies especially when community college was mandated by law to save students $$$$? That's a good question for the folks at UIC. That's 3 semesters worth of extra cost. Subtract community college tuition for 1 year, the year you'd spend taking studio there, and UIC costs significantly more then UIUC downstate.
The argument that I have heard is that community college isn't good enough may hold water with some places but not with places like Harper, COD, Triton or Oakton. The students from these places are as well prepared or, I think, better prepared that their 4 year program counterparts.
So UIC wants transfers to spend another year's worth of tuition money on their program... is that really a good idea for students?

prediction: due to the stress of university departments to retain students i.e. keep the cash cow milk flowing, the emphasis on "weedout classes", rigor, and thorough criticism will diminish, thereby creating more and more architecture graduates in an ever shrinking profession. this will, in turn, continue to a lowering of wages as more and more people compete for fewer and fewer jobs.

Vado,

I know of 2 Arch schools that lowered their requirements. They also had less students applying.

William, comparing UIC and Urbana is comparing apples and oranges. One is a preeminent technical university, the other is a commuter school. The former prepares capable technicians, the latter wants to be a theory school. So of course they don't accept transfer credits -- could you convince Oakton to let you offer a robust architectural theory seminar?

I don't buy the cash cow theory either. If you retain poor students year after year, the upper level classes that tenured faculty prefer to teach are full of students who are unmotivated and only willing to do the minimum necessary to pass. Remember, it is only the tenured faculty who get to vote on curricular matters, and they get paid even if the whole ship sinks.

As for the OPs question, it is the case that students are getting a lot more savvy about shopping their options once admitted to school. I can say that in one instance, being forthright about what the market looks like and where recent grads are working improved the yield by 100% over the previous year. And the thing about IIT is that they doubled the size of their programs five years ago, and didn't increase the size of their faculty much. Personally, if we are talking best education, In Illinois, I'd vote for the University of Chicago.