A different approach

clipped from www.nytimes.com With No Frills or Tuition, a College Draws Notice By TAMAR LEWIN BEREA, Ky. — Berea College, founded 150 years ago to educate freed slaves and “poor white mountaineers,” accepts only applicants from low-income families, and it charges no tuition. Actually, what buys that education is Berea’s $1.1 billion endowment, which puts the college among the nation’s wealthiest. But unlike most well-endowed colleges, Berea has no football team, coed dorms, hot tubs or climbing walls. Instead, it has a no-frills budget, with food from the college farm, handmade furniture from the college crafts workshops, and 10-hour-a-week campus jobs for every student. As many elite universities scramble to recruit more low-income students, Berea’s no-tuition model has attracted increasing attention.