Affordability is often a high priority within organizations as many organizations strive to maximize output capabilities while minimizing the cost of operations. In order to operate with affordability as an organizational goal, members must work together as a cohesive unit to ensure processes and behaviors reflect this goal. While those further along in their careers may be more familiar with organizational aspects such as organizational goals, organizational culture, and organizational climate, those with limited experience may not be aware of these fundamentally important concepts. The goal of the current study was to examine perceptions of affordability given by currently employed students in order to understand how those in the exploration stage of their career view affordability in organizations. Students from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (N = 143) responded to a survey featuring both free response and Likert-type questions regarding currently held beliefs surrounding affordability and organizational culture. Results from this study indicated that students are often unaware of the concept of organizational culture and climate, and this lack of familiarity may potentially lead to organization members distancing themselves from understanding their individual impact to organizational processes. In addition, students view affordability in terms of budgets and funding, often not taking into consideration organizational behaviors that may indirectly influence the overall affordability of a project or program. These perceptions may be used to inform organizations of how best to tailor onboarding processes in order to familiarize newly hired organization members with their individual impact to an organization as well as their role within a larger organizational unit
