A small college with a big idea

by Jamie Cohen, News Writer

Increasing tuition worries are nothing new. But at one college in Point Lookout, Mo., financial concerns are virtually nonexistent.

At the College of the Ozarks, no student pays tuition. The small liberal-arts college has 1,500 students enrolled. Each student devotes 15 hours a week to a campus job and is responsible for paying only his or her room and board. Students are also required to work two 40-hour weeks during the academic year, and there are plenty of opportunities to cram these full-time work weeks in. Thanksgiving, winter and spring break, and the week prior to classes starting have been popular times.

Embracing the name “Hard Work U,” the college is one of only five of its kind in the nation. College of the Ozarks is in great demand, as annual tuition in public and private schools has risen consistently each year. The school makes secondary education affordable for students who might not otherwise be able to meet the cost of their education.

For every opening, the school has about 12 applicants, and a strong preference is given to low-income families and students in the upper half of their high school class.

The college receives funding primarily from outside sources. “We basically solicit local businesses, organizations, and alumni to donate money,” said Anne Asbaucher, a student who works in the development office. “We also do gift annuities, investments, and a lot of people leave us in their wills.”

Also, the college keeps costs down; since students are required to work an on-campus job, only two full-time staff members are needed in each office, said Asbaucher. According to the college’s website, some 75 students are assigned to the various offices on campus, with responsibilities involving typing and filing. Students are employed in many areas of the campus, ranging from the cafeteria, computer center, fire station and water treatment plant.

UW education professor Jacob Stampen thinks the College of the Ozarks has implemented a great plan to provide students with a well-rounded education. “The college provides a good curriculum and is successful in selling their vision of good education to alumni and local businesses,” Stampen said.

The school emphasizes character, Christianity and getting ready for the working world. Stampen believes work-study programs create a sense of civic responsibility, good manners and the ability for resourceful collaboration with others.

“Educators are too narrowly focused on knowledge and skills. An educated person is more than that. We need to emphasize the social qualities of our graduates as being contributors to good efforts and society,” Stampen said.

College of the Ozarks receives a hefty endowment at $254 million, according to its tax forms last year. The funds and contributions allow the school to keep offering free education.

Although free education would be hard to provide on a much larger scale at a university like UW, Stampen said the College of the Ozarks has a more complex definition of an educated person.

“It would be hard to fund a program like this on such an elevated scale, but people are donating because they are convinced that students are learning. The people who are donating believe this is yielding graduates who have the qualities that will benefit themselves and the rest of society,” said Stampen.