Computer Engineering at Lehigh University

Lehigh's Computer Engineering program sits right at Pennsylvania's median for starting salary at $82,209, which means half the state's programs do better. That's a meaningful benchmark since you're competing with strong in-state options—Villanova, Bucknell, and Drexel all place graduates $7,000 to $12,000 higher. Nationally, Lehigh lands in the 66th percentile, which is solid but not exceptional for a selective university (29% admission rate, 1432 average SAT). The debt load of $24,625 is reasonable, creating a manageable 0.30 debt-to-earnings ratio that most graduates can handle comfortably.

The encouraging sign here is the 25% earnings growth to $102,472 by year four—your child would be climbing toward six figures relatively quickly. However, the small sample size matters: with fewer than 30 graduates tracked, one or two outliers could be skewing these numbers up or down. That means less certainty about what the typical graduate actually earns.

If your child is choosing between Lehigh and higher-performing Pennsylvania programs at similar cost, those other schools deliver better immediate returns. But if Lehigh offers a better financial aid package or your child connects with the campus culture, the combination of manageable debt and strong mid-career trajectory makes this a defensible choice—just not the state's strongest computer engineering value.