http://www3.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/25-most-expensive-schools-worth-every-penny/7/
20: Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA
$29,418: Average annual net price
No. 55: Overall Best Value Rank
No. 74: Top College Rank
Any one want to share a story of how they found Lehigh to be worth every penny???
If the school only cost $29,418 then I would think it worth the money. But when you know so many people there are only paying that much, justifying being one of the few paying full price is impossible.
@hockey19 Most of that is need based though as I don’t think there is too much merit scholarship money available at Lehigh. ASFAIK Lehigh is pretty generous with FA too so your family income must be pretty high. Whether Lehigh is worth full pay is debatable, but saying it’s not worth full pay because some people pay less is not very fair since those families don’t even have the choice of being able to pay full.
Whether it is worth full pay really depends on the other options the individual student has.
Is Lehigh engineering worth full pay for a student with a free ride to MIT? Probably not. Is Lehigh worth full pay if all options are full pay? I probably is for most students.
So much depends on the specifics and other options of the individual student, that it is difficult to generalize.
I wish they would do these lists without FA. Lots of ppl get more, less or none, so these are useless lists:(
MIT doesn’t give out merit scholarships, so if Lehigh is need-blind and meets full need like MIT does, you won’t ever see the situation you describe.
My son is an engineer. When he was first hired I looked at the website Glassdoor to see what his salary should be. His salary started and has remained much higher than what the industrial averages are reported. The higher costs we paid to go to Lehigh were made back by the higher salary within his first two years of work. Besides the salary, my husband and I have given so much credit to Lehigh for the adult our son developed into. Sure, a large state school would have been less expensive. But, you are paying for the entire Lehigh experience. I think a smaller school is able to influence the students so much more than a bigger school.
I just finished my first year here. What I can tell you from my experience is that most Lehigh students are incredibly motivated to do well because they know they will be rewarded upon graduation if they do. The curriculum here, especially engineering or IBE, really pushes students to put in maximum effort because if they give anything less they will struggle. From what I’ve heard from upperclassmen, Lehigh prepares you well for life after graduation and I think employers have taken note. On Lehigh’s website you can look at top employers and average starting salaries according to major. In a time when getting a job out of college, let alone a good one, isn’t exactly guaranteed,I feel very thankful to be at a school where I am confident I will be employed upon graduation if I work hard during my 4 years here.