Lehigh Celebrates Family and Founder’s Weekend

“In other words,” Helble said, “for those families, the tuition costs will be zero.”

Helble noted Lehigh’s recent No. 14 ranking on The Wall Street Journal’s 2024 Best Colleges in America and attributed it to the importance the university has placed on student outcomes and the commitment to make a Lehigh education accessible to students regardless of financial circumstances. The Lehigh Commitment is among the initiatives to elevate the university’s impact as part of its Strategic Plan, according to Helble.

“It's a promise to make the transformative Lehigh education more accessible and to make that promise clear and unequivocal,” Helble said. “This reinforces our commitment to enrolling talented students from across all socio-economic backgrounds.”

In addition to expanding student aid, Helble said Lehigh’s Strategic Plan also focuses on making the university’s undergraduate and Ph.D. programs more interdisciplinary and increase investment in Lehigh’s core areas of research. To support these efforts, Helble announced the launch of GO Beyond: The Campaign for Future Makers, an extension of Go: The Campaign for Lehigh, the university’s fundraising and engagement effort.

The original campaign, launched in 2018, set a goal of $1 billion.

“That philanthropic support has helped Lehigh accomplish so many important initiatives, the new business innovation building, new endowed scholarships, support for new members of the faculty, the Singleton, Hitch, Maida residential complex and so much more.”

GO Beyond: The Campaign for Future Makers extends the total goal to $1.25 billion.

It helped kick off a weekend that featured numerous open houses and tours around campus, including tours of the Business Innovation Building and Health, Science and Technology Building. Helble held a special Pace the Prez, a four-mile run with the president, Saturday, while the football team hosted Monmouth on the Goodman campus. For those who didn’t attend, there was tailgating and a viewing party of the football game on the Asa Packer campus.

Festivities continued Sunday with events including a bagel brunch at the Jewish Student Center, a Catholic Mass at Packer Memorial Church and yoga at Taylor Gym, while the women’s soccer team hosted Army on Goodman campus.