<p>Hey guys, I was recently accepted by Lehigh through the Diversity Life Weekend offer. I have a couple questions about financial aid with this school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is there any correlation with the amount of financial aid you get if you get invited to Diversity Life Weekend? </p></li>
<li><p>How good is Lehigh with financial aid overall?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks guys!</p>
<p>Also, is Lehigh’s financial aid consistent throughout 4 years?</p>
<p>Financial aid is not necessarily consistent from year to year. Each year you will need to complete the CSS Profile and FAFSA and each year you financial need will be evaluated. The aid you receive depends upon your need, the need of others applying and the resources available, all of which vary from year to year.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how many “Academic Merit Awards” are given out each year?</p>
<p>I know that the Dean’s Scholar is given to the top 8%, but I was wondering about the Academic Merit Awards, which pays half- or full-tuition for all 4 years at Lehigh.</p>
<p>Thank you! :)</p>
<p>Where/when will the financial aid est. be released?</p>
<p>@purpledog</p>
<p>They’re out.
So I’m assuming that you combine what you get for both semesters and that is how much aid you get for that one year?</p>
<p>My daughter was thrilled to be accepted to Lehigh but they basically offered us no financial aid. Anyone else in that position? She wants to become a dentist so we have to save for that also. It’s bumming us out.</p>
<p>How do you find out how much aid you’ve been offered? I got my acceptance letter today but didn’t see anything and I also checked the portal…</p>
<p>we are in a similar situation. We were given $6,000 in University grants which will not help at all. (Brings the COA down to about $49K). We just don’t have that kind of money for the next 4 years. Lehigh was my son’s first choice, by far, and it looks like he’s going to a state school now. We’re bummed as well</p>
<p>The financial aid information came with the big packet that came in the mail.
And I’m sorry to hear about the low financial aid offers.</p>
<p>Thanks AC24 and sorry to hear the bluepulaski. Lehigh is pretty awesome but $200K+ is just a LOT, period. It almost feels fiscally irresponsible. my D is now weighing Muhlenberg who gave her decent merit aid vs. penn state. she’s just concerned about the size of penn state and distance from home. anyway, hope others made out better.</p>
<p>PhillyMom2012,</p>
<p>fiscally irresponsible is the perfect way to put it! My son really loves Lehigh, but we just don’t want to go in debt b/c, among other things, we have another son going to college in 2016. We are mulling over Drexel, where he got decent aid and Penn State. For PSU, we have the same concerns about the size as well</p>
<p>bluepulaski, if it was Lehigh or Penn State for comparable $, it would be a no-brainer. But a $100K difference over the 4 years…you could send both of your children to Penn State. I only have one to consider. Drexel is also in the mix for her as well with a great aid package. My husband went there (undergrad and grad - obviously years ago) and always says it was a great school but he’d go to Penn State if he had to do it all over again. Seems like they both have solid backup options even if it’s not the dream school. Tough decisions ahead. Good luck!</p>
<p>We had a very different experience than Mike, we receive zero financial aid from Lehigh. We are on the upper edge of middle class family from Massachusetts, which is a very expensive area to live in. We have paid for two private catholic educations which Lehigh refused to take into account. If it wasn’t for the merit money that my son earned from Lehigh and outside of Lehigh as well as AP credits and our 529 plan, we would not be attending either.</p>
<p>We are not rich, we live paycheck to paycheck and get zero each year.</p>
<p>I do think it is is something Lehigh must improve on. I love the school in every other way and cannot see my son anywhere else, but I definitely understand the point of view expressed here.</p>
<p>mumof2boyz and PhillyMom2012,
Thanks for your comments. Its good to know we are not alone! I guess we are middle class as well, but who knows anymore. We are not rich as well, but all the CSS schools seem to think we are. They all said that we could afford to pay for a school that will take up approx. a third of our income, and that’s before taxes and anything else is taken out. We do have savings but that took a hit as well. It just seems unfair at times. Good luck to you all. PhillyMom2012, maybe we’ll see you at Penn State, since that seems to be son’s first alternate</p>
<p>More and more middle class families are being squeezed out of the private college arena and into their state schools. A real shame!</p>
<p>Got 12k in grants far from enough.</p>
<p>I’m curious about Academic Merit Awards as well. This is one of my main choices at the moment, but I’m also looking at Cooper Union. If I get enough aid so that it actually ends up being cheaper than Cooper’s room and board (not cheap to live in Manhattan, and this also assumes I get into Cooper), then I’ll consider going here instead. Of course, this pretty much requires at least a half-tuition scholarship and then some.
So, yeah, what sort of stats should one need if he or she wants the Academic Merit Award?</p>
<p>My stats weren’t great at all but I still got a lot of financial aid somehow. A little over $49k total (Including work study)</p>
<p>@AC24</p>
<p>Sorry if this is personal, but would you mind posting your stats? I’m still waiting for my financial aid package and I’m hoping I can get as much as you did. Very good aid you have there.</p>