College profile
Lesley University
MA · Private nonprofit · Mid-size city · 2,509 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The 4× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$51,538/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$31,152/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~4× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants.
Best for
- Students focused on Visual & Performing Arts (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Lesley University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Lesley University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$306K ahead at full price +$387K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Lesley University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Lesley University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Lesley University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $67,879 |
| Psychology, General. | $56,837 |
| Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods. | $52,570 |
| Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology. | $52,367 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | $50,260 |
| Visual and Performing Arts, General. | $49,175 |
| Film/Video and Photographic Arts. | $45,508 |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. | $45,293 |
| Design and Applied Arts. | $45,099 |
| Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions. | $43,129 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantLesley University is a private nonprofit four-year college in MA. It admitted 94% of applicants (2,509 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $31,152 a year on average with aid, $51,538 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $51,173 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $387,122 ahead with aid, $305,578 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Business Administration, Management and Operations ($67,879); Psychology, General ($56,837); Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods ($52,570).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 8% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 16% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/lesley-university.json