Berea College is a private institution that was founded in
1855.
It
has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,623,
its setting is rural,
and the campus size is 140 acres.
It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar.
Berea College's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges
is National Liberal Arts Colleges,
69.
Its tuition and fees are $870 (2014-15).
Situated in the city of Berea, Kentucky, Berea College is known for
being the first interracial and coeducational college in the South.
Berea is different from most colleges because it does not charge
students tuition for attending the school. The college relies on
endowment income, gifts and financial aid to support the students in
their educational aspirations. All students are required to work a
minimum of 10 hours per week in approved jobs on campus and in the
community. Along with degree-granting programs in 28 fields, there are
also more than 70 organizations for student participation. All students
are required to live on campus unless they are aged 23 or older, married
or a parent. Berea College is a member of the Kentucky Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics and offers 16 varsity programs. Its athletic teams are known
as the Mountaineers.
All students admitted to Berea College are provided a laptop to use
during their college careers under the EDGE Program. Many students
looking to relax while on campus go to the Woods-Penniman Commons, which
houses one of the student cafés as well recreational lounges, which are
referred to on campus as the "loud" lounges. The study abroad program
is very popular at Berea College with more than 50 percent of the
student body studying abroad during college. Notable alumni of the
college include John Bennett Fenn, recipient of the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry.
Berea College serves students who
posses great academic promise but limited financial resources. Berea
provides all students with the equivalent of a full-tuition scholarship
that makes it possible for many students to graduate debt-free. All
students work at least 10 hours per week in one of the most ethnically
diverse liberal arts colleges in the U.S. The first college in the South
to educate black and white, men and women in the same classroom, Berea
continues to advocate and embody a progressive, sustainable approach to
the future.
Through living-and-learning
environments such as the Ecovillage and Deep Green, the highest
scoring Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified
residence hall in the world, students engage in sustainable practices
they can integrate into their communities. Berea extends educational
opportunities outside the classroom through seven centers devoted to
specialized, practical application of the Colleges ideals. The Center
for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS), for example,
empowers students to give back to the world in substantial and
innovative ways.
In addition, the
college is home to initiatives such as Partners For Education, which
houses eight federally funded programs (e.g., GEAR UP Appalachia and the
Promise Neighborhood Initiative) designed to support Bereas
commitment to serving Appalachia.
Ultimately, Berea seeks to graduate service-oriented leaders for the Appalachian region and beyond.
