<p>So I have the option to go to either cal poly pomona or San Luis Obispo. I'd be transferring in as a junior in business administration. Cal Poly Pomona is literally no more than a 10 min drive while SLO is about 3 hours away. The tuition for Pomona is around 6000 while the tuition at SLO is around 8000 but with housing and all the total would be around 23000. I really hate this area and I really wanted to go up to SLO. I wanted to be on campus live in the dorms and what not. Although it would be tough i could pay the tuition at Pomona out of pocket with no debt at least for one year. So my question is should I stay around here, save some money and debt and commute to cal poly pomona OR say screw it and take out some loans and get scholarships to help pay for tuition and housing at SLO. I really wanna go away but idk if it would be wise to intentionally throw myself into a hole financially. What do you guys think</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO has the better reputation in engineering but I don’t know about business.</p>
<p>If they are equal and your job prospects are the same from both schools, I would go to Pomona and save the money. Having to deal with a lot of college debt when you are just starting your career is very difficult. </p>
<p>If the job prospects are much better from SLO, and you are able to get some aid and work-study, then that may be an option. How are you on handling finances? Will you make paying down your loans an priority? I’m encouraged that you are being realistic about this in financial terms.</p>
<p>The dorms and the meal plans are very expensive at Cal Poly. You can save a lot of money in SLO by living off campus in a shared house or apartment. I can understand wanting to live on campus as a transfer, but most upperclassmen live off campus. There are several apartment complexes for students where you’d have opportunities to meet people. Most are 2 or 3 bedrooms with a kitchen and living room. You don’t need to know your roommates ahead of time - they’re rented by the room.</p>
<p>You say you can pay out of pocket your first year, but what about the second? If you’re already going to need loans in year two, it’s probably better to save your money and commute to CPP.</p>
<p>It’s not really throwing yourself into a hole, financially - it’s more like throwing yourself off a cliff!</p>
<p>Do not underestimate the impact on your life of significant debt! And that’s assuming you’d even be able to qualify to borrow that much . . .</p>
<p>Well, Pavingapath - it seems the moms have weighed in on this!</p>
<p>I still think you need to get more information about your employment prospects between the two programs. There is no use in graduating with no debt, but not being able to get a job or being underemployed.</p>
<p>By the way, my husband put himself through Cal Poly for 5 years with no financial assistance and graduated with no debt (in fact, he had savings for graduate school). The local area is full of entry level positions in retail, food services, etc. In addition, he worked as a resident advisor in the dorm (free room & meals) and worked in well paid co-op positions during the summer. As an upper classman he also did grading, worked as a teaching assistant and a grant research assistant. This was all in the College of Engineering, I can’t say what the business college offers.</p>
<p>If you go to SLO, save money and don’t bring a car. You won’t need it for getting around school and town and cars are very expensive. Just the parking fees charged by Cal Poly are huge! Cal Poly SLO has a zip car program that you can use when you need a car and the fees include insurance.</p>
<p>I think it has the better reputation.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/wp-content/uploads/about/infographic.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/wp-content/uploads/about/infographic.pdf</a>
[Cal</a> Poly’s Orfalea College of Business Among Bloomberg Businessweek’s Top B-Schools for Fourth Year Running](<a href=“http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2012/March/bloomberg.html]Cal”>http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2012/March/bloomberg.html)</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you to all the moms who responded. It’s nice to hear from outside people. I will definitely have to look into the job prospect coming out of each school because that is definitely a big issue. A degree and no job? Psh definitely dont new that haha. I like to look at things financially but people sometimes tell me “oh you’ll be missing out on the college experience if you commute or don’t live on/very near campus” but then again those are kids my age taking out 10,000 dollar loans a year. I think I’m just going to suck it up and commute to one of the CSU’s around here and save money. I’d rather be able to get a job and put the money in my pocket rather into the big bank mans pocket. Guess I might miss out on the living on your own thing but not owing much, if any at all to the bank and getting a head start I think will be worth it in the Long run. SLO is still in my sights an I’m exhausting every resource to try and pay for it but if it’s cant be then it can’t be. Maybe ill go there when I go back for an MBA ;). Again thank you ladies very much. By the way, know of any good scholarships or places to get grants? Even though tuition is only 6000 it’d be nice to not pay much at all haha. And I can’t believe how expensive the housing and meal plans are. Goodness they’re like 10,000 hahaha</p>