When the ideas “affordable education” and “nerd-friendly” come together, there’s no doubt that Cal Poly Pomona should come to mind. With relatively low tuition fees and highly ranked academic programs, the campus provides a positive environment for students to embrace their inner nerd and thrive.
As a reflection of those qualities, Cal Poly Pomona was recently ranked No. 15 on “California’s Biggest Bang for Your Buck Colleges” by NerdScholar.com.
Four factors were addressed in the rankings: net price, the Forbes ranking of America’s Top Colleges, six-year graduation rate and loan default rate.
Affordability was the deciding factor that put Cal Poly Pomona high on the list. Students pay $6,789 annually, according to the White House College Scorecard.
“This is an extremely affordable net price — the third lowest on our top 20 list,” says Danielle Lichliter, communication analyst at NerdScholar. “This makes Cal Poly Pomona a great choice for students to get a high-quality education without breaking the bank.”
You could say that being a nerd school is the “in” thing. Geek culture has gone mainstream, and perception of the word is continuing to change, especially with the growing popularity of Comic-Con and TV shows like “The Big Bang Theory.”
“If by ‘nerds’ we mean smart, quirky, creative people who are capable of fanatic devotion to specific interests — yep this is definitely a nerd school,” says Suzanne Donnelly, associate director of the Bronco Bookstore.
Student Andrew Menz realizes that not everyone would like Cal Poly Pomona to be considered a “nerd school,” but he thinks being nerdy is part of being a university.
“We are a polytechnic school and focus on a wide array of studying and learning techniques,” he says. “This multifaceted learning does tend to draw the more studious. We might have nerdy students, but they are the leaders of tomorrow.”