SMU vs Lehigh vs University of St. Thomas

College Search & Lists
1

Hello all! I’m currently really stuck and stressed out with trying to make a college decision.

For basic info I’m a Journalism Major from outside of Philadelphia, PA. My dad unfortunately died of cancer 2 years ago, so I will be paying myself. I am majoring in journalism, and will have some sort of business or african studies minor. I am also african american, and trying to find somewhere I will be included in (in terms of a PWI) is pretty important to me and causing the most stress.

SMU - About 24K
Pros
Hunt Leadership Scholarship (46k a year, covers travel abroad with my hunt cohort after soph year, i’ll be invited to events and dinners in the dallas community by the hunt family and smu, leadership classes and retreats.)
Has a good multi media journalism program
Family lives 40 mins away
Professors seemed very nice and invested in students lives
Connect mentorship (upperclassmen mentor incoming freshman of color, and we can move in on campus early )
Rotunda Scholars (another program for poc to get connected and have a safe space)

Cons
Predominately white and also wealthy./ Not as diverse as I’d like it to be (Seeing that first discovered the campus and visited last summer when students were still home, I didn’t know this stereotype. I fell in love with the campus and the idea of being here, but didn’t know the type of students who go here. During my visit during interview weekend, this was a big turn off and red flag to me. I feel like I’d be out of place )
All the way across the country from most of my family and friends. Will prob get homesick
Seems to be really based on greek life for parties and social life. They do have the historically black frats and sororities, but they seem to have less events and don’t have houses like the other frats and sororities. I’d like to pledge but don’t know if I’d be accepted in the typical Panhellenic class, but would do divine 9

Lehigh - About 20k
Pros
Loved the campus and architecture
Diversity programs seemed solid ( I visited on a diversity day in the fall and fell in love with lehigh. They have the early move in/ mentorship similar to SMU)
Close to home and friends (best friend is going to school 6 miles away, so that’s a plus.)
Family Members live right next to campus
On my last visit driving around, seeing the campus and the whole vibe made me very happy
Cultural Greek Houses (no divine 9 tho) are getting a house next year or so.
Good Africans Studies professors and programs (after visiting and taking their class, that grew my interest in african studies no matter where I go.)

Cons
Many hills and stairs
Journalism program seems to be very based on print and not multi media (print seems to be going out of style.)
In an eh town. Don’t know how much internships and career opportunities are available there. And it seems kinda hard to get to philly and nyc without a car for other opportunities

University of St Thomas - about 9K
Pros
Good journalism program
Good Aid, room and board and unlimited meal plan is covered for 2 years.
Good Diversity programs from what I hear

Cons
Was forced to apply here by some family members so I don’t like it as much
majority of students come from MN, and from the same high schools. Some Reviews said they can be cliquey
Students go home on the weekends since they live close
Not many parties unless you know someone
(going back to the cliquey-ness.)
No greek life
Colder than what I’m used to.

That was a lot!! But any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

2

As a young journalist, 100k less in loans will make a big difference. Would go with the Mustangs for that and all of the reasons you mentioned about which you seem excited (unlike the other schools).

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First off, congrats on your admissions and sorry to hear about your dad - but you will make him proud.

So journalism is notoriously hard to break into and poorly paying. It’s easier today with all the podcasts, etc. but most journalism schools require either a double major or minor for reason that - it’s not really a life skills major. Journalism does require skills but - you have a phone and you can practice anywhere. Often, it’s who you are or what you do vs. your education.

So who is helping to pay? You are paying - but how? You don’t want loans - ever but especially in journalism. Do you have $$ saved up or are you planning loans? If you take loans, you can only get $27000 over 4 years ($5500 the first year) - so money matters!!

I don’t think it matters where you go for journalism but of these three I’d pick Lehigh. You are young - you’ll handle the hills and it wil help with the Freshman 15. Honestly, unless someone has a medical condition, they’re not bad.

But all three are fine universities…this is your happy place, will keep you close to home and you’ll get a great education (and save travel costs).

But how will you pay?

Good luck.

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Hi! Thank you for the advice! I still don’t know honestly. I do have life insurance from my dad’s passing, so I will have to use some of that. I preferably want to put some away for savings and investments and such. I’m still waiting on some other scholarships to hear back from. I have an interview for one next sunday and hear back 3 days after that. The price depends on how you place. So if I get first place that’s 5k for my first year, 2k for my second, and then like 1k for the third and fourth. So I have some other money in the air. But paying, i’m not really sure. That’s another source of stress. My mom keeps saying we’ll figure out it out (me along with my twin brother, which is why we have no parental support. With her salary she can’t even help one of us out.)

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Thank you for the advice!

6

We’ll figure it out is a kiss of death. You may consider St. Thomas which you seem to like other than you were “forced” to apply.

Or you may consider a community college.

I don’t know your financial situation - but we’ll figure it out - and now there’s a second sibling - you need to figure it out up front to ensure your mom is ok.

Again - journalism is notoriously poor paying - if you’re even lucky enough to get a job.

Good luck to you.

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7

Yeah. :frowning: Honestly, I probably won’t stick with journalism in the end. I do love writing, and it seems like there are a lot more social media type jobs people use their journalism degrees with that are well paying. But we’ll see. Thank you.

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8

Hopefully your mom understands the financial aspects of the insurance policy or hopefully you have a trustworthy advisor that could steer you through.

Both your education as well as your brothers are very important - but ensuring mom is ok is important too.

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9

SMU and Lehigh have pretty similar ethnic profiles.
SMU at 63% white, 5% black, 14% Hispanic and 8% Asian.
Lehigh at 61% white, 5% black, 10% Hispanic and 9% Asian.

Being selected as a Hunt Scholar at SMU is really great. It means you’re one of the top students on campus and they provide lots of leadership opportunities. It’s $4K more per year but would also be more in terms of travel costs. The family that’s 40 miles away seems less ideal than the Lehigh family “right next to campus” and your best friend six miles away.

With a mom that has graduating twins that “can’t even help out one” child with her salary, it’s a shame that either SMU or Lehigh wouldn’t come through with more need-based grants. Maybe there’s large home equity or the inheritance is quite substantial.

I assume public options like Penn State or Temple (Honors) are off the table. Either SMU or Lehigh lead to good job opportunities but journalism internships will be low paying and then presumably you’ll feel the pressure to pay back your mom’s loans on the portion of loans beyond that which you can get yourself (i.e., $5500 first year and $27K total for four years).

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10

Congrats on some great acceptances!

It really is a tough choice.

I think SMU offers potentially the best connections and possible future scholarships through Hunt. But it costs the most.

Lehigh offered the best fit in terms of the vibe, etc., and you will have a little less tuition and travel costs — but maybe the opportunities are lacking?

St. Thomas offers affordability, which gives you more flexibility to find your own opportunities and do more things (maybe grad school?) in the future.

If the life insurance is enough to cover four years with no more than $20,000 in student loans, I guess I would go with SMU or Lehigh. If not, St. Thomas. Between Lehigh and SMU, I lean toward Lehigh because you seem more comfortable there but it is a close call because of the Hunt advantages.

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11

Hi Melanie,
Congratulations on the great acceptances and substantial FinAid offers.

The two most important things to remember are 1) Money is the most important factor for you. 2) Don’t forget to seriously consider the cost and how what you spend/borrow now will affect the rest of your life. So yeah, money is the most important part of this decision making process, and money is the second most important part of this decision making process.

IMO, St Thomas is by far the best choice among the three. It’s less than half the cost of Lehigh and almost two-thirds less than SMU. With no one to help pay for college (and transportation, books/laptops, extras, etc) you have to mature in your fiscal decision-making a lot sooner than many other students. You don’t have the luxury of making financial mistakes for childish reasons, and being able to have someone else make you financially solvent again.

That means, whether it feels unfair or not, you may not be able to place trivial personal preferences/desires above the bottom line cost.

Considering a non-trivial topic, you are wise to investigate how URMs are treated at each school. Your studies will be negatively affected if you find yourself in an environment that is not welcoming to URMs. As mentioned, these three schools are about even in their diversity breakdowns. What’s nice about UStT is they have made a serious, public and financial commitment to attracting more URMs to campus. That’s proven by the fact that of your three finalists, UStT presented you with the lowest COA.

On a similar note, you should delve deeply into the sorority situation at SMU. I don’t have first-hand experience, but I’ve heard the Panhellenic organizations are extreme in their rush scene. Not necessarily negatively so, but that it is a time-consuming and possibly expensive endeavor. I haven’t investigated the Divine9 scene at SMU, but you should investigate as much as possible. If you’re certain a sorority is going to be part of your life on campus, check it out as much as you can before making a decision.

Personally, I’d already be 90% set on U of St Thomas. It’s a fine school. It’s in a great city. There are unbelievable internship opportunities in the Twin Cities and the school has a good reputation for helping with that. AND it will save you at least $45K-$64K over your four years. Your mother loves you and doesn’t want to disappoint your dreams of going to SMU, so she’s saying “we’ll figure it out.” What that really means, as you said, is she can’t help you financially. To me, that means SMU and Lehigh are out, and UStT is in.

I get it. In 2020 my son had a few schools higher on his list than where he ended up, including SMU. Some were affordable, but others were simply too expensive for me to keep in the conversation. And some others, while providing good FinAid, were so much higher than the most-affordable options that I couldn’t justify spending thousands of dollars more simply because his initial feeling was to prefer schools C, D and E over schools B, G and Y. He’s very happy where he is now and he admits it’s a good fit for him.

FWIW, UStThomas is on my short preliminary list of universities for my daughters who will be graduating in 2 and 4 more years. As are Lehigh and SMU. They’re all fine universities. In situations where finances are restricted, it makes sense to choose the one with the lowest COA. After you graduate college, you’ll be very happy to have more $ remaining from that insurance policy. Hey, life doesn’t get any less costly when you leave college. It’ll be nice to have some money to help buy your first condo or set up your first apartment.

Good luck to you!

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Congrats on 3 great acceptances with scholarships! A question about St. Thomas: if family members made you apply, was that because you have family that lives close by there? Or are family members alums there? I’m just trying to figure out what the connection is. It really is a quality school, and the neighborhood is really nice, with 2 other colleges, Macalester and St. Kates, within walking distance and you can cross register for classes there (as well as at Hamline and Augsburg.)

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My aunt is an alum. She got a full ride (despite still having to pay student loans? So I guess room and board wasn’t covered.) So my grandparents have talked about that a lot since my freshman year. She got a certain scholarship that was open to anyone in the country since she was OOS, but now that scholarship is only for MN residents. They have some family friends who my aunt went with to the school and one works there. I don’t know them that well but they live semi near by so they would be a support system there.

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Thank you so much! I do agree about saving the money, and I guess I’ll have to consider it more. I’m taking a last minute visit this Friday to see how it is since I haven’t gone yet. Maybe I’ll like it.

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Thank you for your advice! Yeah I wish they came through with more aid. I set up a zoom with my counselor at lehigh about appealing for more, and he said with the insurance policy being on my FAFSA and CSS, my aid is less because it makes me seem like I have all this money. I appealed with him and ended getting $5K more, which is why it’s 20k now. If I hadn’t, or it didn’t work, SMU and Lehigh would basically be the same price.

For Temple and Penn State, I did apply. I liked temple more out of the two. But later on I realized I didn’t wanna be in such a big school. Temple is 29K and Penn State is 21k.

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Thank you! Yeah the life insurance wouldn’t be enough to cover SMU and Lehigh. If I used all of it (which I don’t really want to do) I would still probably need like 15K or so.

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Unless your mom signs you can only get $5500 year one. And there’s still your brother.

Why it’s important to get ahead of this.

Have you considered junior college for two years ? Save money.

I love everyone to get the four year experience but it is important to look long term.

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That’s good to know, thank you. I haven’t thought about that. I’ll try to look into that more.

19

This is such a great post. Agree 100%.

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As someone who’s transferring out of Lehigh, I wanna say that this school is not that “diverse”

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