Pomona College (14k/year) vs UF ( full ride / ~6k semesterly refund) for finance. Which one would you choose?
Just to clarify, UF has accepted you as a transfer student at no cost with a $12K refund per year?
Can your family afford the $14K per year at Pomona or does that require loans?
I am a first-year so i have not applied to UF yet, but I got accepted last year and i have florida prepaid and bright futures there. I contacted one of the transfer advisors and they said I’ll likely get in if I complete 60 credits by the end of my first year, which I will since I am taking extra classes. I will have to take out loans for Pomona.
And yes, UF is a full ride ~5/6k stipend semesterly
UF is a pretty decent option to avoid debt. If I wanted to end up working & living on the West Coast, or if Pomona has a major that UF does not, I would consider staying if your career earning outcomes look good (so you can pay off the 60K). If you want to come back East after graduation, and/or UF has a similar major, it would be hard to justify the debt.
Why did you go to Pomona to begin with?
I’d go to Florida but only for this reason and correct me if I’m wrong - you can’t major in Finance at Pomona. Econ - yes - but finance no.
So - I’d ask - why do you want to leave Pomona? It’s not due to cost - because you knew the cost before you went and while $14K is a lot of money, for a school at the level of Pomona, it’s dirt cheapl.
The schools are vastly different - but I’m assuming cost isn’t the reason you want to leave.
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Pomona classes are worth 4 credit hours each and students typically take 4 courses per semester. How are you going to get to 60 credits freshman year, even if you take 5 courses per semester?
I don’t know how Bright Futures works for transfers, so defer to others. But, only you can make this choice, and certainly going to school for free (plus stipend) is very appealing.
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I have a lot of IB/AP credits
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I was initially drawn by Pomona’s insane endowment, thinking that the opportunities will compensate for the debt that I will have to take. I actually want to leave partly because of cost. Right now, I have to rely on my parents to pay tuition and we just got into a really big conflict so I want to be financially independent. I also want to live off campus. I can’t live off campus till junior year at Pomona. Off-campus at Pomona is also really expensive
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In theory you knew this up front. Are your parents making you pay them back - ie independence ? Are you going to be ok with more bureaucracy, larger classes ?
UF is a fine school but very different. Pomona is elite. But no finance.
I’d ensure you understand the finances as a transfer.
What myself or anyone else would choose is not relevant even though all of us could probably answer (for ourselves).
Only you can answer the question you asked in your first message…as it relates to you.
Btw I have no doubt opportunities from clubs to research abound at both schools but you have to find them, earn them. They are not simply given.
Also depending on where you want to end up career wise, one school might place better in that area so you might check career outcomes.
To me, to be there two months and looking to leave is not giving your initial decision a fair chance. There’s so much you don’t know about the school that perhaps you need to dig deeper and give it a chance. You chose it for a reason.
Double and triple check on the Bright Future requirements. When my kids were in school, they had to start using it within 1 year of graduating from high school. The only exceptions were military service or a religious mission (not transferring in from another school). Just be sure. They do change the requirements ALL THE TIME, so check.
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