About

The Pomona College Academy for Youth Success (PAYS) is a three-year college access program operated by the Draper Center for Community Partnerships, designed for students from historically underrepresented and underserved communities in Southern California. Rather than an open summer session, PAYS selects a cohort of 30 rising sophomores each year who commit to the program until graduation. The initiative emphasizes academic rigor through Critical Inquiry seminars and math problem-solving taught by Pomona faculty. A central feature is the intensive four-week residential summer session, where scholars live in Pomona College dormitories to experience a liberal arts environment. This residential experience is supplemented by year-round mentoring, SAT preparation, and bilingual financial aid workshops. Admission is highly selective and limited to students in five local counties (LA, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura). PAYS is best understood as a multi-year, cohort-based equity initiative that provides a full-immersion introduction to elite higher education at no cost to families.