Rutgers [$15k, computer science] or Lehigh CSB [$16k] [$3k parent contribution]

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Male

$15,010 at Rutgers $16,000 at Lehigh

$3,000 parent contribution for both colleges

Computer Science at Rutgers CAS and Lehigh CSB HOnors Program at COE AND SOB

Starting in the fall

Careers goals: Cybersecurity analyst, Database/Systems Administrator, Data Science, IT (Unsure as of now but one of these)

Freshman year start

From North NJ

Rutgers ~200-300 in freshman classes, lots of school spirit, 20 miles from home, many frats and sororities, diverse student body, huge campus where buses are needed, 8/10 food,no internship help

and

Lehigh ~20-50 in freshman classes (from what I know), 80 miles from home, frats and sorority at a smaller scale, not much school spirit the day I visited, majority white/slight asian, walkable campus with steep hills, 4/10 food, much more internship help than rutgers

I’m catering more to Rutgers but wondering what the trade off is for going to a big school with a hated and supposedly underfunded CS department

versus a smaller school with what seems like professors who care and a program where everyone seems to know each other

Applied to Rutgers because of the reputation in the state and the proximity to home, applied to Lehigh because of the ranking for National Universities(#46)

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Nice choices! I think you’ve got the basics of each college right. Your call on which you prefer. I’d pick purely on vibes since you know the pros/cons already. I don’t think you’ll see a material difference in outcomes.

I will say that Lehigh, while smaller, is still a D1 school, so basketball season can be a good time, especially if they’re having a good season. But even when Rutgers is losing, the games are a bunch of fun if that’s what you mean by school spirit. You’ll fight for more classes at Rutgers, but if you’re ok with that, then it’s a great Big 10, D1 college experience in your backyard.

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Unless I am missing something, your career goals don’t indicate much interest in doing something businessy for undergrad.

In that case, I would definitely go with Rutgers if that is the college you overall prefer (and it seems you do).

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Explain this for me - $15K at Rutgers, $16K at Lehigh.

Who is paying the delta from the $3K. You cannot borrow that much, without co-signing very expensive private loans because you can only borrow $5500 the first year.

Which offer do you have that’s affordable? It doesn’t seem either of these two are.

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I’m from a low income household so I got full tuition scholarships from both. Scarlett Guarantee and Lehigh Promise.

That 3k contribution is what both my parents could give me out of pocket since they never started a college savings account for me

my father has told me, I am eligible to receive ~1500$ a month for studying because he is 100% disabled (Chapter 35). so over a school year that’s about $13500

From what I know Rutgers lets you split up the bill to monthly payments with no interest. Doing federal work study is also an offer I wouldn’t pass up on. IMO, I think it will be affordable

Lehigh I haven’t looked into about splitting the bill over months, I would hope it’s the same.

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I was thinking of not just doing CS at Lehigh because of the ranking on US News, it’s around #90. CSB seemed more reasonable because a CS degree alone not being enough in today’s jobs market . Good communication skills which people compliment me on are important for business majors.

Then again, what my careers aspirations are I feel as if that business part would be useless. It’s almost a backup that CSB program.

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I am thinking you better confirm what your dad told you with both. Don’t assume - and what if the $1500 isn’t good on room and board.

You should study what you want - not based on US News - which is to sell magazines. These are great schools. By the way, US News rank for departments is a popularity contest - they use no data. They survey academics and ask them to rank schools No selectivity, no career stuff. I put the methodology below for you.

Good communication schools are always important. I’m not sure they can be taught - they are innate in you - and you will develop them. Writing skills, of course, can be refined.

Study what you want…bottom line.

Here is the methodology - like I said - it’s garbage - so study what and where you want. But first get the finances in order. Dad says is not enough. You need to validate it.

Good luck.

The U.S. News rankings for undergraduate programs in business, computer science, economics, engineering, nursing and psychology are based on peer assessment surveys of deans and senior faculty from accredited U.S. institutions.

How Programs Are Assessed and Ranked

In spring and summer of 2025, deans and senior faculty rated the academic quality of peer programs they were familiar with on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular program were asked to select “don’t know.”

Each qualifying school or program was sent two peer assessment surveys.

An average peer assessment score was calculated for each program using a trimmed mean, which removes the two highest and two lowest scores to reduce the impact of outliers. Programs with at least 10 ratings after trimming were then ranked in descending order based on this score.

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The $1500 should be good, the VA would send me the money directly to my bank account and I would pay as usual

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Ok, if your father has that amount of GI Bill money that can be used for your non-tuition costs, that should make both affordable. Otherwise, the $12-13k between the cost and your parents’ contribution would require both a $5.5k federal loan plus a lot of part time and summer work earnings (more than usually assumed in financial aid calculations).

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A computer science education would make your better qualified technically for most of these jobs compared to many who have mainly business backgrounds (MIS/CIS majors).

For data science, you would want to add some statistics / data science courses and perhaps some courses in areas of application interest.

For cybersecurity analyst, you obviously want to take the computer science courses relating to security and cryptography, and perhaps math courses in that area (algebra and number theory).

For database work, you obviously want to take the computer science courses on databases.

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Strictly speaking, if you get short on cash and had to do it, you could commute 20 miles each way each day. It would not be ideal but it is at least possible (assuming a reliable car). Commuting 80 miles to me seems wildly impractical.

I would expect you to be able to get internships either way.

Just something to think about: For someone majoring in computer science, mathematics is a skill that can be useful for some jobs. Cybersecurity and Data Sciences are two examples, but there are other examples also. I would expect a computer science program to include something related to data structures and algorithms, which it is again good to know something about.

As you say good communication skills can be useful, and are in fact useful for a rather wide range of jobs and careers.

Best wishes.

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In fact I feel like if the OP is concerned about the career paths for pure CS majors, a not unreasonable concern these days, the sorts of things you are discussing–namely doing more statistics, data science, field-specific application courses, particularly relevant math coursed, and so on–is the more logical approach than adding businessy stuff.

And, of course, start hustling for relevant internships.

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That’s the scary things - four years ago, heck two years ago - even last year, people were like - CS is the best thing ever.

Today it seems like it’s not.

Tomorrow, who knows? Maybe it’s back. Maybe business is out.

Better to study what interests you because you’ll have to be adaptable, flexible, no matter what you study - and not just when you graduate but year after year in real life.

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If that is your real name, you might want to change your screenname. How Do I Change My Username?

If it’s a takeoff on “the rock”, no worries.