I think what he means is that the area you work determines your salary. So, while Carnegie Mellon grads mostly go and work at companies in California or New York where the cost of living is higher and people are paid more, Lehigh grads tend to live in less costly areas which is why the pay scale is sometimes off. For example, Lehigh grads are usually snatched up by ppnl or a local company and then eventually get a job at Google or Microsoft etc. after a few years. Since they live in the Lehigh Valley where the cost of living is lower, their starting salary of 80k is a decent amount. CMU grads usually go straight to a top company (not saying Lehigh grads can’t but like I said they usually take a local job because they pay a lot for our area). So I’m the end CMU grads usually end up making more but also paying more due to the areas they live in.
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