Spring Break
College puts students to work for free education
Kevin Murphy
Issue date: 3/26/03 Section: News
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POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. (KRT) — As looming recession is forcing financially strapped schools to raise tuition, many high school students are fretting over how to afford college next fall.
But tucked away in southwest Missouri is a school where dire economic forces matter less, where students don’t worry about tuition, where donors defy the times and continue to enrich school coffers.
At College of the Ozarks, time may not exactly stand still but one thing never changes: a free education.
None of the 1,500 students at the four-year liberal arts college pays tuition. They labor for a degree, working 15 hours a week in place of tuition. They pay only room and board, and even that can be worked off.
One of only five colleges of its type in the nation, College of the Ozarks is in great demand as annual tuitions average $4,080 in public colleges and $18,273 in private schools, according to a recent survey by The College Board.
“Ninety percent of the kids are here because they can’t afford college,” student Jason Wyatt said.
For every opening, the school has about 12 applicants, President Jerry C. Davis said. That is up from about 10 last year. Ten years ago there were three applicants for every opening.
Strong preference is given to low-income families and students in the upper half of their high school class.
Davis said the free education is enticing to parents, but so is the school’s emphasis on character, Christianity and getting ready for the working world.
“The values here represent the best of what made America great,” Davis said. “We are talking about hard work, faith and opportunity.”
Not much is conventional about College of the Ozarks, which has proudly adopted the moniker “Hard Work U” given to it in a Wall Street Journal article 30 years ago.
Students are as likely to be found behind a broom as a desk. They clean buildings, serve food in the cafeteria, do yard work, run the laundry, answer phones in offices and milk cows for the campus dairy.
But tucked away in southwest Missouri is a school where dire economic forces matter less, where students don’t worry about tuition, where donors defy the times and continue to enrich school coffers.
At College of the Ozarks, time may not exactly stand still but one thing never changes: a free education.
None of the 1,500 students at the four-year liberal arts college pays tuition. They labor for a degree, working 15 hours a week in place of tuition. They pay only room and board, and even that can be worked off.
One of only five colleges of its type in the nation, College of the Ozarks is in great demand as annual tuitions average $4,080 in public colleges and $18,273 in private schools, according to a recent survey by The College Board.
“Ninety percent of the kids are here because they can’t afford college,” student Jason Wyatt said.
For every opening, the school has about 12 applicants, President Jerry C. Davis said. That is up from about 10 last year. Ten years ago there were three applicants for every opening.
Strong preference is given to low-income families and students in the upper half of their high school class.
Davis said the free education is enticing to parents, but so is the school’s emphasis on character, Christianity and getting ready for the working world.
“The values here represent the best of what made America great,” Davis said. “We are talking about hard work, faith and opportunity.”
Not much is conventional about College of the Ozarks, which has proudly adopted the moniker “Hard Work U” given to it in a Wall Street Journal article 30 years ago.
Students are as likely to be found behind a broom as a desk. They clean buildings, serve food in the cafeteria, do yard work, run the laundry, answer phones in offices and milk cows for the campus dairy.
