Pomona/OXY/UCLA - cost issues

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My daughter is accepted with merit aid to OXY but she can not get need based aid. Cost in Pomona will be 200k vs. 160k in OXY. Is Pomona so much better? I can hardly afford OXY and as far as grad school she is totally on her own.
She is not sure what she wants to major in but already decided that med, law and business schools are not for her. But she definitely will go to grad school.</p>

<p>I am mostly interested if Pomona academics worth extra 40k? Weather, location not important. </p>

<p>She also got accepted in UCLA. We live on EC so UCLA will cost 165k if she is lucky to graduate in 4 years. She will most likely get in UCLA honors. I may be able to move to CA and get residency so we will pay only 20k for last two years. UCLA dorms are just scary, class sizes will probably get even worse with cutbacks that will definitely happen. I think it is crazy to pay non resident tuition there. I think that she can transfer to UCLA later if I can not pay for Pomona/OXY.</p>

<p>She also accepted in UW honors program. She will be able to pay resident tuition there. We never visited UW. I do not know anything about UW and how it compares with UCLA.</p>

<p>I hope to get advice from this board.</p>

2

<p>You have two questions here:</p>

<p>Are Pomona/OXY/UCLA worth 160K to 200k when my kid could go to UW honors for in state tuition?</p>

<p>Which of the three Pomona, OXY, and UCLA is worth that kind of money?</p>

<p>Well, just exactly how much money do you have available for college? Should she be making a quick trip to UW? Should she just go there sight unseen (lots of kids do that kind of thing every single year, so she wouldn't be the first)?</p>

<p>How much in love is she with Pomona? How much money can she make in summer jobs, and in part-time school year jobs? How much are you expecting her to cover (or is she willing to cover) with student loans that are in her name?</p>

<p>From what I've seen and heard, the honors programs at state universities usually are dynamite. I know several students at my local HS who have turned down admissions at expensive famous name private colleges/universities in favor of the honors program at our state U.</p>

<p>Wishing both of you all the best as you face this choice.</p>

3

<p>In today's Los Angeles Times, there was an article relevant to paying the costs of these same schools. </p>

<p>Sizing</a> up college financial aid packages - Los Angeles Times</p>

<p>From the article:

[quote]
Han, a Garden Grove legal assistant, is the father of an honors student at Pacifica High School in Orange County who was accepted at a litany of great universities -- Berkeley, UCLA, Pomona College and UC San Diego, to name a few. </p>

<p>Because he applied for financial aid, each university sent Han a page-long "financial aid notification" that explains how much it would cost for his daughter, Stephanie, to attend the school. Each also explains how the campus and government might help defray that cost, and the amount they expect the Hans -- both parents and student -- to pay on their own.</p>

<p>But when the Hans sat down to examine the letters for a side-by-side comparison, they were stumped. Each one seemed to use different terms, making it hard to compare costs from one school to the next.</p>

<p>"There is no uniform financial aid letter," said Lynn O'Shaughnessy, San Diego-based author of "The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price." "They can be confusing -- sometimes intentionally so -- to make the awards look better."</p>

<p>Pomona College, which estimated its cost of attendance at nearly $50,000 a year, was willing to provide $43,195 in aid, Han said.That included a scholarship for $41,495 and "student employment" of $1,700.</p>

<p>UCLA, which listed a $26,000 cost of attendance, didn't say anything about student employment or loans -- only scholarships and grants for about $18,000.</p>

<p>On first glance, Han said the awards appeared to make the cost of Pomona almost the same as that of UCLA. But on second glance, he realized that he shouldn't count "student employment" as aid, and he didn't know whether the $41,495 scholarship that Pomona offered could be renewed the following year.</p>

<p>UCLA, meanwhile, cobbled together a long list of scholarships for Stephanie. Each of those scholarships was renewable for four years, as long as Stephanie remained a full-time student and maintained certain grades (the specific grade-point average varies by scholarship). Other schools list loans among their aid but don't note the interest rates or whether those loans must be paid while the child is in school or after he or she graduates.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Like Stanford and Harvard, Pomona recently said they would be offering more generous tuition aid, I am surprised that UCLA offered a better scholarship package to prospective student in the article above. Normally at Pomona you have to apply for state and federal aid first, and then if that doesn't cover your costs, the college will offer additional funding from their endowment.</p>

4

<p>I think if you're already going to go into the debt of paying more than 150K for any school over 4 years, whats 40k more for the best brand name school, especially when they probably have better placement rates into grad school, and have more recognized name employers recruit at their school?</p>

<p>there would be a huge difference if total cost of pomona would be 200K and oxy was 100K. </p>

<p>Also to take into consideration is that at least with Pomona you have the resources of other colleges to explore.</p>

<p>It's highly doubtful that you could transfer into UCLA, primarily because they give preference to callifornia community college students who meet their IGETC requirement. Pomona's schedule/classes may not meet UCLA requirements, ie taking one of the easier maths that have fancy names, which is considered less than what UCLA requires(stats, college algebra, calculus etc)</p>

5

<p>Pomona is far beyond Oxy in terms of resources, future opportunities, and environment. Pomona's PhD placement is among the tops in the nation in nearly every subject. For a difference of 40K, I'd say that it makes sense to bite the bullet and take it.</p>

<p>On a side note, if you give the financial aid office at Pomona a call and explain the exact situation that you are in, they may be able to cut you a deal, especially if your daughter is truly set on the school.</p>

6

<p>Oxy is not in the same class as UCLA or Pomona and Pomona is not worth 40K more than UCLA especially if you can get resident tuition the last couple of years. I am not sure what is "scary" about UCLA dorms but the honors program allows for advantages like priority enrollment, smaller class options (they have honors seminars you can take in lieu of GEs) and usually your TA is your professor if you choose to take a huge lecture GE as an honors class. All things considered UCLA is the choice.</p>

7

<p>Call the financial aid office and see if you can negotiate with Pomona. They are very open to the financial needs of others. Ask about what their offer means if you're unclear.</p>

<p>I don't get this "fancy" math course thing liek talked about. There are plenty of solid 'generic' math classes in Pomona - calc 1, calc 2, calc 3 (multi-variable), linear algebra, etc. If the OP wants to transfer, she'll be more than equipped and qualified to do so.</p>

<p>Of course, if she tries to transfer into UCLA Math having only done a course like "The Mathematics of Poker" at Pitzer, then its a different story.</p>

8

<p>Pomona College has an excellent math department. They are the home of the world's top experts on the number 47. :)</p>

<p>[47</a> (number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_(number%5D47"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_(number))&lt;/p>

9

<p>IMO, Pomona is definitely $40k 'better' than Oxy, and unless you have the moving truck at your door, don't count on instate tuition at UCLA; thus, Pomona is $40k better than UCLA.</p>

<p>BUT, none of the above will provide that much better value than instate honors. On another thread you mention that your D might be going to grad school or into the non-profit world. If so, save the $.
re: the article -- unless the girl won a Regents, UCLA does not offer scholarships from the office of finAid; most likely, Han won an alumni scholarship (which she had to apply for).</p>

<p>small nit on the article -- unless the girl won a Regents, UCLA does not offer scholarships from the office of finAid; most likely, Han won an alumni scholarship (which she had to apply for).</p>

10

<p>I think UW (assuming you mean Wisconsin and not Washington( Honors and Pomona are similar in quality, with an edge to Pomona. You can remove UCLA and Oxy from your list... neither will be better than UW Honors.</p>

<p>So, I'm guessing UW Honors would be about $80,000 vs. $200,000 Pomona? In that case UW Honors, easy call. If Pomona were $120,000, I'd choose Pomona... and extra $40,000 is where I'd draw my line of indifference on this choice.</p>

11

<p>If you can comfortably afford the premium, I would say Pomona is the best choice. When you're paying that much money, your daughter will get a lot more services at Pomona than UCLA. Oxy is good too, but not worth the cost.</p>

<p>I agree with Dunnin that UW Honors is the best choice if you cannot easily afford the cost for Pomona.</p>

12

<p>UW Honors is in Washington.</p>

13

<p>I'll look up UWashington honors... but I'll bet my opinion will be the same as with UWisconsin. I say this because undergrad their USNWR ranking is almost the same 38/42, and the NRC rankings have the Ph.D. programs at 13/14... so essentially I would expect the quality of UWashington Honors to be the same as U Wisconsin Honors.</p>

14

<p>The relevant comparison isn't UW Honors v. Pomona.</p>

<p>It is UW Honors PLUS $120k v. Pomona. Do a mind experiment: imagine that you were committed to spending all $120k on your kid's education. What would you/she spend that extra $120k on? Two years of graduate school; a couple of years abroad studying languages or art or.... Five years doing volunteer public health work in Africa. 5 trips around the world. You name it.</p>

<p>If you do this mind experiment, I think you would quickly come to the conclusion that EDUCATIONALLY, UW Honors plus $120k is far superior to Pomona.</p>

<p>But there's more. If she's at or near the top of her class at UW, she will likely get better mentoring, better internships, better opportunities than if she is in the middle of her class at Pomona. (Remember, half of the students at Pomona, as is true anywhere else, are in the bottom half of the class.)</p>

<p>Pomona is a GREAT school. So? Lamborghinis are great cars, too. They may not be the fastest way to get you where you want to go.</p>

15

<p>UW is an excellent public state school, highly regarded nearly everywhere. Seriously, if you can save over 20K+ a year by going to UW, this would be hard to pass up, even if it was for a school like Pomona. On the flip side, imo Pomona would definitely be worth the extra dollars over UCLA/Oxy. It is an all-around gem of a school. Just look on the Pomona boards on CC...when trying to find negatives about the school, there are nearly none. It is on numerous lists of "most happy students" and "best overall experience." If you can almost pay for all of Pomona, if that is where your daughter really wants to go that would be the best option.</p>

16

<p>Pomona is by far the best choice education wise , of course that's an in my opinion. My son had a better aid package at Claremont McKenna and Pomona matched it. They are wonderful in the fin aid office and will work with you. My son is graduating from Pomona this year, 4 incredible years and the professors and overall opportunities were beyond belief. I can't say enough good things about the school and how they cater to students. My son had a free ride to a state honors college and multiple other choices. One overnight visit sealed the deal for him and our mtg with fin aid made it possible. It would be worth a call and talk to the head officer.</p>