With the exception of a few small colleges wishing to avoid all federal government financial aid regulations, almost every college, university, career-college, and online degree program administers and awards financial aid to students who qualify by virtue of financial need as determined by the FAFSA.
Similarly, most traditional colleges offer institutional aid in the form of named and/or merit scholarships.
However, only a very few colleges enable students to work on campus to offset some or all of their costs. Below you’ll find a quick overview of nine of them.
College of the Ozarks- Point Lookout, Missouri
The college serves about a thousand students on a scenic 1,000 acre campus overlooking a lake not far from Branson. Often called “hard work college”, College of the Ozarks offers students deemed “worthy” the opportunity to completely offset all tuition by working on campus. No other form of aid is available.
Ozarks describes itself as both a patriotic and a Christian college which focuses on what is right with America. It is therefore not surprising that the college was ranked as follows by The Princeton Review in 2015: # 4 in most conservative students, # 8 in most religious students, and # 3 in “got milk” (low alcohol consumption). The college has been ranked for value and educational quality by several prominent publications, including U.S. News and World Report. Although fewer than 10% of applicants are admitted, students do not have nearly the same flashy test scores or GPA’s as their counterparts at similarly selective institutions.
Despite its small size, the college offers a very wide variety of majors and minors, including several seldom found at small colleges (dietetics, engineering, agribusiness, rhetoric, and sociology with a gerontology focus). There are no graduate programs.
Ecclesia College- Springdale, Arkansas
This Arkansas Christian college offers financial aid, some via a campus-work program, to all its students. The college is socially conservative, requiring all students to sign a pledge which explicitly forbids, among other things, cursing, all alcohol consumption, gossip, slander, and “unbibical sexual activity”. The college belongs to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and has enjoyed Association for Biblical Higher Education accreditation since the year 2005. Traditional undergraduate programs are offered via traditional and/or online delivery in biblical studies, business, Christian counseling, Christian leadership, athletics management, and music ministries. There are no master’s or doctoral degree programs.
Blackburn College- Carlinville, Illinois
Blackburn is the least expensive private college in Illinois. Its work program allows students to further reduce their educational costs by working a minimum of more than 150 hours per semester. Students contribute labor to many departments, helping to trim the college’s expenses and giving students often valuable hands on work experience. Many campus buildings, in fact, were built primarily by students.
The 600 student institution offers undergraduate degree programs in majors including art, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, education, languages, history, public service, math, performing arts, and psychology. There are no graduate offerings at Blackburn.
Alice Lloyd College- Pippa Passes, Kentucky
The college of approximately 600 students charges no tuition at all to students within what it defines as its primary service area of more than 100 counties. ALC students participate in the campus work program and are also eligible, if qualified, for financial aid. The work program generally commits students to between ten and 15 hours of service to the college per week. The average class size is just under 20 students. There are no graduate programs or online degree programs at Alice Lloyd.
Undergraduate majors include, but are not limited to, business, sports and fitness management, biology, nursing, engineering, and teaching.
Berea College- Berea, Kentucky
Like Alice Lloyd, Berea is a relatively small, independent, Kentucky college with a labor program that, combined with other forms of financial aid, brings the average out-of-pocket cost for a student below $1,300 per academic year. Berea is generous with not just U.S. students, but with international students as well, especially in their initial year of enrollment.
Students enrolled at Berea can choose from among 30 degree programs, including African and African-American studies, Appalachian studies, Asian studies, health and human performance, peace and social justice studies, technology and applied design, and women’s and gender studies.
Warren Wilson College- Asheville, North Carolina
Warren Wilson College, located in western North Carolina, enrolls fewer than 800 students, but this small college offers students a work program that greatly reduces costs for the college and its students, a big-time community service program, an MFA in writing, the usual undergraduate programs, as well as fairly to highly unusual programs such as Africana studies, creative writing, sustainable forestry, peace and social justice, and outdoor leadership.
Paul Quinn College- Dallas, Texas
By working on campus 8 hours a week during the academic year, a student can reduce his or her educational costs by $1,200 a semester. After completing the required semester work hours, students can earn up to an additional $450 by working additional hours. Paul Quinn is the only work college that is also a historically black institution (HBCU). Paul Quinn students are involved in very interesting programs, including one in which they grow healthy food and get it to communities in which such food is not always readily available.
The college offers undergraduate degrees in both on-campus and online study. On-campus majors are offered in biology, business, computer science, legal studies, liberal arts, legal studies, and more. Paul Quinn does not offer graduate degrees.
Webb Institute- Glen Cove, New York
If you are interested in naval architecture and marine engineering, and if you are accomplished enough to join the approximately 90 students enrolled at Webb, your education will be nearly free. Currently the institute admits fewer than 4 in 10 applicants.
Barclay College- Haviland, Kansas
Barclay, affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends, offers full tuition to all students who reside on campus. The Christian-focused college offers its 225 students both online degree and on-campus programs in bible, business, education, ministry, missions/nursing, and more. The institution and student body can both be accurately described as socially conservative.
Deep Springs College- Big Pine, California
Deep Springs is one of the most unusual colleges in the country because of its location and setting, its enrollment (extremely small), the fact that it’s essentially free of cost, its policy of community self-governance, the fact that it is a very selective two-year college, and the impressive list of highly selective institutions, including several Ivy Colleges, to which its graduates successfully transfer. Classes average just 8 students and both faculty and students live on campus, so students and faculty have frequent, personal interaction. With faculty approval and support, students may pursue directed and independent study.
There are now eight colleges offering students a chance to significantly reduce their tuition costs. Two, in fact, charge no tuition at all to qualified students.
To learn more about these varied institutions, visit any of the colleges below.
Arkansas
Ecclesia College
Illinois
Blackburn College
Kentucky
Alice Lloyd College
Berea College
Missouri
College Of The Ozark’s
North Carolina
Warren Wilson College
Texas
Paul Quinn College
Vermont
Sterling College