Berea College was the focus of a feature story by Jeff Tyler recently broadcast by National Public Radio. Tyler, a journalist for NPR’s Marketplace and All Things Considered, recently visited Berea’s campus to prepare the story that focused on how Berea College and Alice Lloyd College provide no-tuition enrollment for college students and offer examples other American colleges might follow.
Jeff Amburgey, Berea’s vice president for Finance, explained how gifts to Berea’s endowment, now worth about $1.2 billion, allows the College to cover the cost of tuition for every student. Since 1920, the board of trustees have ruled that all unrestricted money given to Berea College would be invested in an endowment to grow over time to support Berea’s distinctive mission.
Hollie Jamison, a senior nursing student at Berea, explained how she would graduate debt-free, something that her friends from high school have not been able to do.
Berea’s Labor Program, in which every student is employed 10 or more hours per week, was also cited as a potential model for other schools with small- to mid-sized enrollments.