Lafayette College

Overview

Located 70 miles from New York City and 60 miles from Philadelphia, Lafayette College in Easton, PA is an exclusively undergraduate, residential college that challenges its 2,450 students to move beyond the familiar, the comfortable, and the easy and dares them to become thinkers and leaders.

Founded in 1826, the Lafayette College campus embraces the philosophy of the Marquis de Lafayette that is embodied in the motto Cur Non (“Why not?”), offering students opportunities to jump into the thick of things, to take risks, to care deeply. Students may choose among more than 50 majors in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering or work with professors to create their own major.

The student-faculty ratio is 10 to 1. An interdisciplinary curriculum transcends academic boundaries and gives students the breadth and freedom to study what they are passionate about. Students and faculty explore innovative ways to teach and learn, infusing classroom learning with field experience and service-based projects in communities locally and around the world. Solutions to the world’s challenges happen where ideas and specialties intersect.

Lafayette’s longstanding tradition of interdisciplinary study — exemplified between liberal arts and engineering – creates synergies, sparks discovery, and advances knowledge. The ability to combine interests and collaborate with others in different fields makes a Lafayette education especially powerful. It’s a big reason why students receive coveted internships, get into top graduate schools, and succeed in life.

In recent years, 95 percent or more of Lafayette’s graduating seniors have been employed, continuing their education, in internships, or in volunteer work within six months of graduation. Students today want their education to be like their world – connected. Lafayette’s approach creates connections, integrating students’ academic, social, and professional development into a seamless pathway to the future. Students have created a culture of scores of clubs and campus organizations.

Lafayette has the thrill of theater and music programs that have launched careers in the arts, plus the energy of Division I athletics, like Lafayette College football and the Lehigh Lafayette Rivalry. Lafayette is committed to partnering with students of all financial backgrounds to make its active, globally connected education affordable. Lafayette awarded over $40 million in College-funded grants and scholarships in 2015–16 and budgeted over $44 million for 2016–17. Over half of the College’s students are eligible for financial assistance and receive the aid they need to make a Lafayette education possible through grants, scholarships, loans, and/or work-study. Accepted students with demonstrated need whose total family earnings are less than $50,000 will realize a financial aid award that meets that need with scholarship, grant, and work-study.