What's the difference between Amherst and Pomona?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona does have a huge endowment for its size and they spend a fair bit on students.

Both Amherst and Pomona are among a handful of schools that give every single student some degree of a subsidy to the full cost of attendance, even those who pay sticker price. Both schools spent over $135,000 per undergraduate last year.

Really? Can you share more about what this ends up looking like for full-pay families and whether/where this is advertised? We're a full-pay family with a kid headed to a different top 10 LAC next year but D also looked at Amherst and Pomona and toured and we didn't pick up on this info.

I am not that poster but my experience was that Pomona funds a lot of kids during the summer to do research (or research-like things) and there’s also a fair bit of money available for student activities and things (but it’s not really anything you could budget for as a parent).

Okay, thanks. The LAC our D is headed to offers those things too. I don't think it's that unusual among selective LAC's if that's what we're talking about. I thought the PP meant that Amherst and Pomona directly subsidize tuition to some degree for all students, which would be a surprise to me.

They do. Real COA is somewhere in the $200,000 range. The budget is allocated every year to ensure families don't pay that.

Don’t most schools claim this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona does have a huge endowment for its size and they spend a fair bit on students.

Both Amherst and Pomona are among a handful of schools that give every single student some degree of a subsidy to the full cost of attendance, even those who pay sticker price. Both schools spent over $135,000 per undergraduate last year.

Really? Can you share more about what this ends up looking like for full-pay families and whether/where this is advertised? We're a full-pay family with a kid headed to a different top 10 LAC next year but D also looked at Amherst and Pomona and toured and we didn't pick up on this info.

I am not that poster but my experience was that Pomona funds a lot of kids during the summer to do research (or research-like things) and there’s also a fair bit of money available for student activities and things (but it’s not really anything you could budget for as a parent).

Okay, thanks. The LAC our D is headed to offers those things too. I don't think it's that unusual among selective LAC's if that's what we're talking about. I thought the PP meant that Amherst and Pomona directly subsidize tuition to some degree for all students, which would be a surprise to me.

They do. Real COA is somewhere in the $200,000 range. The budget is allocated every year to ensure families don't pay that.

Don’t most schools claim this?

I'm not sure i understand the purpose of the question, but yes, most top schools claim this, because it's true. Most colleges couldn't afford this.

[Anonymous]

We really like Pomona, Williams, Bowdoin.

Amherst felt dumpy, sorry to say. And nobody's first choice. Even the athletes - which are now over 40% of kids - seemed to be "this was the most prestigious school I got recruited for" ie more about the name than any passion to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona does have a huge endowment for its size and they spend a fair bit on students.

Both Amherst and Pomona are among a handful of schools that give every single student some degree of a subsidy to the full cost of attendance, even those who pay sticker price. Both schools spent over $135,000 per undergraduate last year.

Really? Can you share more about what this ends up looking like for full-pay families and whether/where this is advertised? We're a full-pay family with a kid headed to a different top 10 LAC next year but D also looked at Amherst and Pomona and toured and we didn't pick up on this info.

I am not that poster but my experience was that Pomona funds a lot of kids during the summer to do research (or research-like things) and there’s also a fair bit of money available for student activities and things (but it’s not really anything you could budget for as a parent).

Okay, thanks. The LAC our D is headed to offers those things too. I don't think it's that unusual among selective LAC's if that's what we're talking about. I thought the PP meant that Amherst and Pomona directly subsidize tuition to some degree for all students, which would be a surprise to me.

They do. Real COA is somewhere in the $200,000 range. The budget is allocated every year to ensure families don't pay that.

From my understanding this translates into small perks. For example, the deans office at DD’s lac will accept emergency grant requests up to $5,000 with limited review and up to $10,000 with a meeting for any student, no matter financial aid status. DS has a pair of a costly prescription glasses that broke and the school immediately provided funding for it, even though were full pay. I can imagine that being pretty impactful for a low income student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona does have a huge endowment for its size and they spend a fair bit on students.

Both Amherst and Pomona are among a handful of schools that give every single student some degree of a subsidy to the full cost of attendance, even those who pay sticker price. Both schools spent over $135,000 per undergraduate last year.

Really? Can you share more about what this ends up looking like for full-pay families and whether/where this is advertised? We're a full-pay family with a kid headed to a different top 10 LAC next year but D also looked at Amherst and Pomona and toured and we didn't pick up on this info.

I am not that poster but my experience was that Pomona funds a lot of kids during the summer to do research (or research-like things) and there’s also a fair bit of money available for student activities and things (but it’s not really anything you could budget for as a parent).

Okay, thanks. The LAC our D is headed to offers those things too. I don't think it's that unusual among selective LAC's if that's what we're talking about. I thought the PP meant that Amherst and Pomona directly subsidize tuition to some degree for all students, which would be a surprise to me.

They do. Real COA is somewhere in the $200,000 range. The budget is allocated every year to ensure families don't pay that.

Don’t most schools claim this?

I'm not sure i understand the purpose of the question, but yes, most top schools claim this, because it's true. Most colleges couldn't afford this.

I think the earlier post mentioning that Pomona and Amherst provide a subsidy to all students was a little misleading. Yes, the COA for full-pay students at those schools would be higher if not buffered by endowment contributions, but COA for Pomona and Amherst is still in the mid 90,000 range for both schools and there's no change in that number for full-pay families. That's a COA commensurate with that of basically all of the top 20 or so LAC's. Obviously some LAC's offer more funding for families who demonstrate financial need and some offer merit, but the price tag for full-pay families is essentially same at all the LAC's that don't offer merit, which generally included the most selective ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We really like Pomona, Williams, Bowdoin.

Amherst felt dumpy, sorry to say. And nobody's first choice. Even the athletes - which are now over 40% of kids - seemed to be "this was the most prestigious school I got recruited for" ie more about the name than any passion to be there.

.

The average person has not heard of Pomona College in LA. They will confuse it with Cal Poly Pomona. The smartest kids that stay back in LA attend UCLA, Cal Tech and maybe Harvey Mudd.

[Anonymous]

Also want to concur that I have heard that Amherst is hoarding their endowment and the campus looks dumpy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really like Pomona, Williams, Bowdoin.

Amherst felt dumpy, sorry to say. And nobody's first choice. Even the athletes - which are now over 40% of kids - seemed to be "this was the most prestigious school I got recruited for" ie more about the name than any passion to be there.

.

The average person has not heard of Pomona College in LA. They will confuse it with Cal Poly Pomona. The smartest kids that stay back in LA attend UCLA, Cal Tech and maybe Harvey Mudd.

Cool story. Tons of Pomona alum in the bay who are doing very well for themselves. Anyone can go to UCLA nowadays, so don't know about "smartest"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really like Pomona, Williams, Bowdoin.

Amherst felt dumpy, sorry to say. And nobody's first choice. Even the athletes - which are now over 40% of kids - seemed to be "this was the most prestigious school I got recruited for" ie more about the name than any passion to be there.

.

The average person has not heard of Pomona College in LA. They will confuse it with Cal Poly Pomona. The smartest kids that stay back in LA attend UCLA, Cal Tech and maybe Harvey Mudd.

Cool story. Tons of Pomona alum in the bay who are doing very well for themselves. Anyone can go to UCLA nowadays, so don't know about "smartest"

UCLA is very hard to get into as is Cal Tech and Harvey Mudd and we didn’t address the elephant in the room—Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really like Pomona, Williams, Bowdoin.

Amherst felt dumpy, sorry to say. And nobody's first choice. Even the athletes - which are now over 40% of kids - seemed to be "this was the most prestigious school I got recruited for" ie more about the name than any passion to be there.

.

The average person has not heard of Pomona College in LA. They will confuse it with Cal Poly Pomona. The smartest kids that stay back in LA attend UCLA, Cal Tech and maybe Harvey Mudd.

Cool story. Tons of Pomona alum in the bay who are doing very well for themselves. Anyone can go to UCLA nowadays, so don't know about "smartest"

UCLA is very hard to get into as is Cal Tech and Harvey Mudd and we didn’t address the elephant in the room—Stanford.

UCLA is a joke school with a broad percentage of students who can't do algebra 1.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-27/uc-math-professors-demand-return-of-sat-for-stem-admissions
Unlike UCLA, Pomona isn't hellbent on accepting any poor kid in california with no ability to graduate in their major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also want to concur that I have heard that Amherst is hoarding their endowment and the campus looks dumpy.

We were there a year ago when touring most of the NSECAC's and a few ivies. We thought the campus was beautiful - greenspace and buildings both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also want to concur that I have heard that Amherst is hoarding their endowment and the campus looks dumpy.

We were there a year ago when touring most of the NSECAC's and a few ivies. We thought the campus was beautiful - greenspace and buildings both.

Their facilities are behind peers, beside the science center. They really need to work on capital investments soon.

[Anonymous]

Long, cold, cloudy winter days are not ideal for mental health. We prefer SoCal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Long, cold, cloudy winter days are not ideal for mental health. We prefer SoCal.

You’re rich. Go for it. Your kid will turn out fine with their silver spoon even if they go to Franklin and Marshall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also want to concur that I have heard that Amherst is hoarding their endowment and the campus looks dumpy.

We were there a year ago when touring most of the NSECAC's and a few ivies. We thought the campus was beautiful - greenspace and buildings both.

Their facilities are behind peers, beside the science center. They really need to work on capital investments soon.

Wellesley was also hoarding their endowment until their dorms just fell apart. Now they are on a building spree. Just ridiculous and frankly unethical.