Another college you can attend without incurring student loans. Check out Berea College, in Berea, KY.
A recent article in the New York Times told about Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky.
What provides the education is Berea's $1.1 billion endowment, which puts the college among the nation's wealthiest. But unlike most well-endowed colleges, Berea has no football team, coed dorms, hot tubs or climbing walls. Instead, it has a no-frills budget, with food from the college farm, handmade furniture from the college crafts workshops, and 10-hour-a-week campus jobs for every student.
Berea'sapproach provides an unusual perspective on the growing debate over whether the wealthiest universities are doing enough for the public good to warrant their tax exemption, or simply hoarding money to serve an elite few. As many elite universities scramble to recruit more low-income students, Berea's no-tuition model has attracted increasing attention.
At most top colleges, only 8 to 15 percent of students receive Pell grants to help with tuition costs. At Berea, more than 75 percent of the students receive Pell grants.
Overall, Berea's statistics speak worlds about the demand for affordable higher education; this year, the college accepted only 22 percent of its applicants.
The best quote was at the end of the article from Berea's president, Larry D. Shinn:
"You see some of these selective liberal arts colleges building new physical education facilities with these huge sheets of glass and these coffee and juice bars, and charging students $40,000 a year, and you have to ask, does this contribute to the public good, or is it just a way for the college to keep up with the Joneses?" Mr. Shinn said. "We are a tax-exempt institution, so I think the public has a right to demand that our educational mission be at the heart of all of our expenditures."
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