All are private, primarily liberal arts colleges and most advertise a Christian environment. School officials say most of the students are either Baptist or Methodist. But College of the Ozarks was founded in 1906 by Presbyterian minister John Forsythe, and it was he who established the work study formula for students. Of course, we've been doing this since 1906. Work college programs run on a simple theory.
Colleges are expensive to operate, therefore, if a college utilizes student labor, everybody wins.
The college gets a built-in work force, and the students learn, among other things, that their education has a fiscal value. But that's just part of it, says Roger Fenton, Blackburn College's associate dean of work. We believe strongly in the value of a liberal arts education. Each work college compensates its students with financial aid. The money is deducted from tuition costs.