But if there are a limited number of internships, my guess is that a kid from Millersville will be in the back of the line behind kids from the top schools, Lehigh, Temple, Drexel, Pitt and Penn State. That is why, in this particular case given the degree planned, it may be worth the extra debt.
Think of it this way: with initiative and the ability to self teach a lot, he’ll be able to succeed despite Millersville.
If he attends Lehigh, they’ll provide everything to ensure he succeeds unless he self sabotages.
To give you an idea, a CR+M of 1200 qualifies as “top 50 students in the class” at Millersville.
Top 25% threshold is 23 on the ACT. Only 1% have a Math score of 700 on the SAT.
The depth and level of CS and math courses simply can’t be the same as at Lehigh, where the bottom 25% have 28 on the ACT and where 44% score 700+ on the Math and 89% 600+. The same thing is true for general preparation and content of classes in the Humanities (describe what’s going on in the text, ie., SAT 400-500 CR vs. analyze implied meaning and relate it to other readings CR 700+). There’s one calculus I honors class offered at Millersville - if he took Calc AB or BC, he’s out of luck for honors math. There’s no engineering - only Applied Engineering Technology. The funding is light years apart. In terms of drive, it’s not unheard of to have students at Millersville simply not show for their final (let alone come to class prepared).
I don’t especially like Lehigh (too hilly! too Greek :p) but in this case there are real differences in opportunities and outcome.
It seems like most posters favor Lehigh over Millersville. Would the posters in question have any practical advice on the financial aspects of Lehigh? Remember that the OP did mention that Lehigh would involve $54,000 of debt ($27,000 federal direct loans plus $27,000 of parent loans or parent-cosigned student loans). How would you suggest that the OP manage those parent loans, given that, even if the student graduates with a CS degree, economic and industry conditions that would lead to high paying jobs are not guaranteed (remember the 1998 frosh who majored in CS and graduated in 2002 during an industry downturn?)? Or, do those with knowledge of Lehigh know where there are good cost-cutting measures that the student can take advantage of (e.g. is there housing and food readily available that costs significantly less than Lehigh’s budgeted amount of $12,660 per academic year?)?
Because the son will be in CS, he’ll have shot at paid internships. It’ll be his duty to look for one and put as much of the pay aside to alleviate the loans. It means renting books or buying them used. It means working in it on campus -securing a job during orientation, rather than loafing around like most ecstatic freshmen, and working in it too during winter break. It means committing to his grades with no week day partying, no matter how much his buddies want to. Cost cutting will be easier sophomore year as housing in Bethlehem is rather cheap, and cooking for oneself is cheaper than the full meal plan.
If you and your husband make $160k or less, you will also be eligible for a $2500/year credit. If you apply that to the loans, your net loan contribution would only be $17k.
You said if he goes to Millervile that he will graduate debt free. This assumes that you are paying room board fees and miscellaneous items for Millervile. Are you paying this comparable amount at Lehigh?
If you are saying that he has to pay you back, then let him make the decision about how he wants to spend “his” money (since it is being freely loaned and not freely given). If he wants Lehigh, he will be the one paying for it and that is how he chooses to spend his money.
Thanks again for this great discussion of my question. I totally forgot about the tax credit so yes we can add that to the amount we are paying out of pocket to reduce our son’s loan amount. I have no doubt our son will work hard no matter where he goes. He doesn’t seem to have a clear favorite as I know he is still considering following his girlfriend. After our Lehigh visit this Saturday, we will need to sit down and have a chat. His girlfriend is coming along so I hope she will realize that Lehigh is a much better investment for him than following her to West Chester. She is the class Salutatorian, so is smart enough to figure this out. I hope he comes home and says he really wants to go to Lehigh and then we can say, “Great! We will make it work.”, and send in our deposit.
However, parents and students should not count the paid internships before they are offered. The student may only get them after the second or third year. Also, if there is an economic or industry downturn (a risk independent of how committed the student is and how hard he works), that could severely impact internship and post-graduation job prospects. It may be worth taking such risks, but one should be aware of them beforehand.
As far as job prospects go, I would save the money. I graduated with a CS degree from a university with a 100% acceptance rate (UMUC, their European division). I got a great job before I even graduated. Our top coder (brilliant guy) didn’t even have a college degree. CS majors are still in great demand and your S will definitely get a job. Once he has that first job only his job performance and work connections are going to matter (for the most part). It may take him a few more years to get to a Google level job, but if has the ability and motivation he will do it. If he were going into a low-demand field, I would say pay the extra to help him get any job at all after graduation.
That being said, it sounds like there are a number of other big differences between the two schools. That’s harder to put a price tag on and would be dependent on how important those factors are to your S and how “painful” the extra cost would be.
Unless girlfriend is writing a check for your son to go to college she should be a non-factor in this decision.
Well, hopefully she won’t hold him back and guilt-trip him into following her… that’d be so incredibly selfish 
I would not have allowed a significant other to tag along on this trip.
I was pretty laid back about the GF/BF stuff in HS, but this is NOT two adults who are engaged going on a house-hunting trip because one of them has a job offer in Wichita and the other needs to see if he/she can live there; this is NOT a medical resident taking a spouse along to see if there are possible job opportunities in the new city where the fellowship is based; this is not even a college senior wondering if he/she can maintain a long distance relationship with the SO if they go to grad school in different cities.
These are teenagers. There is no possible upside to having a girlfriend along for the ride. Best case she is supportive of Lehigh- but then you don’t get the benefit of his unedited comments or commentary about what he sees on the trip because she’s sitting next to him. Worst case- well you know the worst case.
He’s a teenager and this is a big decision. And the GF stays home. My two cents. You have a lot of money (and your son’s education) on the line; she can’t possibly help in any meaningful way. She can be Albert Einstein (or just class Sal) and STILL can’t help.
IMHO Millersville and Lehigh are apples and oranges. The experience at both schools will be totally different. Not to say you can’t get a good education at both and get a good job from both, because obviously grads from both schools do those things.
But the resources at Lehigh and the type of internships and opportunities are not going to be close to what Millersville can offer.
And I too, would not let the GF have a say. No matter how smart she is, it is going to be doubly hard for her to admit that her BF should choose a “better” school than she herself chose (and that is no ding on WCU, it’s a good uni) and that he should choose a school that is not hers.
I agree that the GF should not be in this trip. But if that’s been the plan, it might be worse to say no at this point.
Funny way of phrasing that 
“Honey, I know we agreed that Joanne could come with us when we visit Lehigh this weekend. But now that we’re getting down to the wire on a decision, it will be distracting for all of us to have her along. We don’t want to spend the day ignoring her, but since this decision is about your education, and our finances, we’re not going to be able to focus on her the way we’d like to on a family outing. Next time for sure”.
GF doesn’t get a vote.
I wouldn’t bring her along. She may sway him to her college. Bad idea
" My daughter qualified for a local math/science scholarship that takes $5k off her tuition every year." - That is fantastic, but I think it’s pretty rare. Most local scholarships around us are for less money, one year only. Many have a financial need component, so that part might help OP’s son.
I reread that too and thought - I hope they know what I mean! And it was past the edit point 
Besides the OP’s dilemma, this thread shows that there is a limit to the “take the money and don’t look back” advice from the CC community. Perhaps both a quality limit (there seems to be enough of a difference between Lehigh and Millersville) and cost difference (<$30K not >$100K).
Hope the weekend visit makes the right path clear.
Not sure why it is so different in this case than in many others. The cost difference in this case is substantial in that it involves parent loans. Although less well endowed with electives, the less expensive school does offer a reasonably complete set of core courses for the student’s major.