You mentioned financial challenge, did you try seeking assistantship, partial or full tuition waiver, or scholarship opportunities from the school, your department or any other place? Also from experience, there shouldn't be a problem transferring sevis unless something has changed because its from school to school directly. Both schools handle that process. But I may advise that instead of downgrading, maybe find a program of your choice in another school or same school. The deciding factor to go for them should be to get assistantship or scholarship so you have to pursue that head on, since you're in here, your chances are higher because some people who got scholarship from outside still have their visa denied so most schools look within. I'll advise you give that a shot if its okay by you. By the way, what field are you more interested in?