My daughter has fallen in love with Lehigh after a visit. She was considering ED. We completed the cost calculator and the remaining balance would $27000 a year. So I guess the question is, thoughts on the value Lehigh reputation and program strength vs SUNY Buffalo or Stony Brook . The cost to attend would be significantly less 10 to 15k per year less at SUNY.
She is interested in pursuing a dual track of Computer Science with business minor.
Open to other suggestions on colleges
Thanks
$60K overall is alot of money to some people, just a drop in the hat for others. If a portion of that additional cost requires anything more than the maximum in student loans each semester, it would be a no-go for our family.
Thank You , That would be large investment for our family hard decision.
Did she investigate the Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) program at Lehigh? That could be a possibility.
In some business opportunities, I think the Lehigh brand would help her starting salary a bit. CS depends a lot on what the student can do technically.
You may also want to consider the graduation rates, placement rates and average starting salaries at each school.
Another consideration is that the student body at Lehigh is generally somewhat stronger (30 avg. ACT) vs. SUNY (about 26 avg ACT). Given a school that may be slightly easier and one that may be a bit more of a challenge, which would she choose?
We have one student who would generally choose a bit easier competition, and another one who always seeks out the biggest challenge she can find. If your student has a strong preference either way, that could be a consideration.
Are you borrowing the money if she goes to the more expensive school, and is that calculation relying on financial aid?
The big SUNYs have a pretty good reputation for CS. The job opportunities won’t be any different for your daughter because her diploma says Lehigh, SUNY Buffalo, or SUNY Stony Brook.
Indeed, Stony Brook may be attractive to recruiters due to being near a large population center with many jobs, and being somewhat better known for CS outside the region.
The cost did include financial aid. The SUNY schools would be much less expensive because of merit awards. She could graduate with very little if any debt with our contribution. . MY daughter is very driven and works hard. We are not sure if its is worth us going in debt to fund Lehigh, but would do so if it gives her a real competitive advantage. Thanks for all your responses.
SUNY all the way. Good luck to your daughter, if she is driven and a hard worker she will make her way no matter where she goes to school 
Lehigh has a unique integrated “Computer Science and Business” (CSB) program that is normally completed in four years. The CSB degree is fully accredited as both a computer science degree (by ABET) and as a business degree (by AACSB). The program is rigorous, and does not leave much room for non-business/non-CS electives, but is quite doable for strong students.
https://csb.lehigh.edu
Since it is fully accredited for both CS and business, the CSB degree is better than a CS degree plus business minor. It is supposed to have very strong corporate recruitment and employment outcomes: for the Class of 2014, CSB graduates reportedly had the highest mean starting salaries at Lehigh, at $81,750. Most of the CS majors at Lehigh go the CSB route; in other words, it’s normal to combine CS and business as a course of study.
https://careerservices.web.lehigh.edu/sites/careerservices.web.lehigh.edu/files/2014FDR.pdf
You could combine CS and business at a SUNY, but it is unlikely that you would get full degrees in both fields in four years. You could probably get the CS degree and a business minor in 4 years. However, it would probably take 5 years (and obviously additional expense) to get full degrees in both fields.
The mean starting salary for CSB, as currently shown on the Lehigh website for the Class of 2016, is a bit lower at $74,125. It still appears to be the highest-paying major at Lehigh though.
https://www1.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/success
So you would borrow the balance? Parent plus loans? Is Lehigh good at meeting their NPC FA numbers? 27K a year is a big debt. It seems like a complete no-brainer when you have almost free with merit at good options.
@sybylla It seems like a game changer, but it isn’t.
People focus on cost per year, but they should focus on the cost to graduate and time to graduate. That can be a real game changer. With only a little more than 1/2 of college student completing a degree in 6 years, it only works if you are confident that those numbers don’t apply to you.
I would hope a student smart enough to apply to CS and business could do a little math. The point for OP that not only could the degree take well over 4 yrs, but it could also never materialize (in its original form). CS dropout is high, weed out is significant. I don’t know what the kid’s stats look like. That is something to consider very seriously.
Check out Northeastern, which also has a combined CS/Business major with high salaries (CS majors alone have a median starting salary of 80K) and a co-op program which allows for great work experience before graduation, often both in business and CS. Run the NPC there, as results vary between private U’s. Northeastern also offers merit up to 30K or so.