No Berea student is ever charged tuition.

Unlike other colleges where tuition supplies most of the funding, Berea depends on the endowment return for 76% of its operating costs. Another 16% of our annual budget comes from federal and state funding, while the final budget 8% comes from loyal alumni and friends who support Tuition Promise Scholarships through the Berea Fund. A gift of $3,000 completes the amount needed to fulfill a Tuition Promise Scholarship for one student.

Meet our students

After having a demanding job as a female welder working on U.S. submarines, Holly Ann and her grandmother decided to look for a way to afford a four-year degree. Together, they found Berea College, and now Holly Ann can pursue the education her grandmother was not allowed to have. People like you made Holly Ann feel like she’s the luckiest person in the world.

Meet Destiney ’23, a Computer and Information Science major who will enter her final year at Berea. Destiney grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where the historic effects of segregation gave her the impression that her future was already determined.

Your generosity ensures Destiney and her classmates can follow their dreams to Berea College and beyond.

Berea College senior Micah ’22 was raised by his elderly great-aunt on their low, fixed income in Appalachian Kentucky. This spring he will earn the first college degree in his family and then go on to graduate school to become a physical therapist. Because of donor generosity, Micah will get to spend his time in graduate school building skills to heal others instead of worrying about enormous student debt.

Berea College’s commitment to educating Appalachian students is as important today as it was in our founding year of 1855, especially for students who have experienced poverty firsthand. Nursing student, Elizabeth ’21 has a similar story: “Without donors, it’d just be me and my dream and major student debt. Because of your generous heart, I can help others heal.”

Jonathan ’22 was working 70 hours a week making pizzas and washing cars before he heard about a tuition-free education at Berea College: “I had always been told that my dreams were “far-fetched” and that I would never achieve my goals, but your support contradicts those messages. For that, I will always be grateful and forever indebted to your kindness.”

Despite the loss of her father and grandfather and the financial challenges of living in a single-parent family, Sharon ’22 never lost hope of her dream of attending college.

Now as a student at Berea, Sharon is fulfilling her plans to go to medical school thanks to the generous gifts from folks like you.