Berea College Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea ( south of Lexington ) , in the U . S . state of Kentucky , founded in 1855 . Current full - time enrollment is 1 , 514 students . Berea College is distinctive among post - secondary institutions for providing free education to students and for having been the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducation al and racially integrated . Berea College charges no tuition ; every admitted student is provided the equivalent of a four - year , full - tuition scholarship ( currently worth $ 102 , 000 ; $ 25 , 500 per year ) . Berea offers undergraduate academic programs in 28 different fields . Berea College has a full - participation work - study program where students are required to work at least 10 hours per week in campus and service jobs in over 130 departments . Berea ' s primary service region is Southern Appalachia , but students come from all states in the United States and more than 60 other countries . Approximately one in three students represents an ethnic minority . History . Founded in 1855 by the abolition ist John Gregg Fee ( 1816 – 1901 ) , Berea College admitted both black and white students in a fully integrated curriculum , making it the first non - segregated , coeducational college in the South and one of a handful of institutions of higher learning to admit both male and female students in the mid - 19th century . The college began as a one - room schoolhouse that also served as a church on Sundays on land that was granted to Fee by politician Cassius Clay . Fee named the new community after the biblical Berea . Although the school ' s first articles of incorporation were adopted in 1859 , founder John Gregg Fee and the teachers were forced out of the area by pro - slavery supporters in that same year . Fee spent the Civil War years raising funds for the school , trying to provide for his family in Cincinnati , Ohio , and working at Camp Nelson . He returned afterward to continue his work at Berea . He spent nearly 18 months working mostly at Camp Nelson , where he helped provide facilities for the freedmen and their families , as well as teaching and preaching . He helped get funds for barracks , a hospital , school and church . In 1866 , Berea ' s first full year after the war , it had 187 students , of whom 96 were black and 91 white . It began with preparatory classes to ready students for advanced study at the college level . In 1869 , the first college students were admitted , and the first bachelor ' s degree s were awarded in 1873 . In 1904 , the Kentucky state legislature ' s passage of the " Day Law " disrupted Berea ' s interracial education by prohibiting education of black and white students together . The college challenged the law in state court and further appealed to the U . S . Supreme Court in " Berea College v . Kentucky " . When the challenge failed , the college had to become a segregated school , but it set aside funds to help establish the Lincoln Institute near Louisville to educate black students . In 1925 famed advertiser Bruce Barton , a future congressman , sent a letter to 24 wealthy men in America to raise funds for the college . Every single letter was returned with a minimum of $ 1 , 000 in donation . In 1950 , when the law was amended to allow integration of schools at the college level , Berea promptly resumed its integrated policies . During World War II , Berea was one of 131 colleges nationally that took part in the V - 12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a navy commission . Up until the 1960s , Berea provided pre - college education in addition to college level curriculum . In 1968 , the elementary and secondary schools ( Foundation School ) were discontinued in favor of focusing on undergraduate college education . Rankings . For the past decade , Berea College has been consistently ranked by " U . S . News & World Report " as the number one comprehensive college in the South , and it is currently ranked as # 3 among liberal arts colleges by The Washington Monthly College Ranking 2012 . Academics and student life . A high percentage of Berea graduates go on to graduate and professional schools , and the college is also active in international programs , with about half of Berea students studying abroad before graduation . The college provides significant funding to assist students in studying abroad . Berea students are also eligible to win the Thomas J . Watson Fellowship , which provides funding for a year of study abroad following graduation . Like many private colleges , Berea does not enroll students based upon semester hours . Berea College uses a course credit system , which has the following equivalencies : All students are required to attend the college on a full - time basis , which is 3 . 00 course credits of enrollment , or 12 semester hours . Students must be enrolled in at least 4 . 00 course credits to be considered for the Dean ' s list . Enrollment in 4 . 75 or more course credits requires the approval of the Academic Adviser , and a minimum cumulative GPA of 3 . 30 . There are also optional Summer opportunities to engage in study . Students may take between 1 and 2 . 25 credits during Summer . One Berea course credit is equivalent to four semester hours ( 6 quarter hours ) . Part - time enrollment is not permitted except during Summer term . A cumulative GPA of 2 . 0 is required in all majors in order to graduate with a Bachelor ' s degree . Scholarships and work program . Berea College provides all students with full - tuition scholarships ( valued at $ 25 , 500 per year ) , and many receive support for room and board as well . Admission to the College is granted only to students who need financial assistance ( as determined by the FAFSA ) ; in general , applications are accepted only from those whose family income falls within the bottom 40 % of U . S . households . About 75 % of the college ' s incoming class is drawn from the Appalachian region of the South and some adjoining areas , and about 8 % are international students . Generally , no more than one student is admitted from a given country in a single year ( with the exception of countries in distress such as Liberia ) . This policy ensures that 70 or more nationalities are usually represented in the student body of Berea College . All international students are admitted on full scholarships with the same regard for financial need as U . S . students . In order to support its extensive scholarship program , Berea College has one of the largest financial reserves of any American college when measured on a per - student basis . The endowment stands at $ 950 million , down from its 2007 height of $ 1 . 1 billion . The base of Berea College ' s finances is dependent on substantial contributions from individuals , foundations , corporations that support the mission of the college and donations from alumni . A solid investment strategy increased the endowment from $ 150 million in 1985 to its current amount . As a work college , Berea has a student work program in which all students work 10 or more hours per week on campus . Berea is one of eight colleges in the United States and one of only two in Kentucky ( Alice Lloyd College being the other ) to have mandatory work study programs . Employment opportunities range from bussing tables at the Boone Tavern Hotel , a historic business owned by the college , to managing the hanging and focusing of lights for the productions at the Theatre Lab . Other job duties include janitorial labor , building management , resident assistance , teaching assistance , food service , gardening and groundskeeping , information technology , woodworking , weaving , and secretarial work . Some of the work - study has helped to extend and support practice of traditional crafts from the Appalachian region , such as weaving . Berea College has helped make the town a center for quality arts and crafts . Students are currently paid an hourly wage at or above $ 4 . 0 per hour by the college . The college regularly increases student pay on a yearly basis , but it has never been equivalent to the federal minimum wage in the school ' s history . Students are not allowed to work off campus . Campus life . Technology is an important part of life at Berea College . Since 2002 , all students at Berea receive laptops that they take with them when they graduate . Students are not required to pay for the computers , though they do provide a small fee to support the technological infrastructure . Students are also not allowed to have cars on campus without a special permit , and student permits for cars are rarely granted to first - or second - year students . The college provides students with supplemental transport through a shuttle bus system and a bicycle sharing system known as Berea Blue Bikes . The college has a non - discrimination policy and does not discriminate on the basis of race , color , religion , national or ethnic origin , age , sex , handicap , or sexual orientation in its educational programs , admissions practices , scholarship and loan programs , athletics and other school - administered activities or employment practices . Athletics . Berea College teams are nicknamed as the Mountaineers . The college is currently a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics ( NAIA ) , primarily competing in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ( KIAC ) . Men ' s sports include baseball , basketball , cross country , golf , soccer , swimming , tennis and track & field ; while women ' s sports include basketball , cross country , soccer , softball , swimming , tennis , track & field and volleyball . On February 20 , 2012 , the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) announced it had granted Berea permission to begin a one - year period exploring membership in its Division III , non - scholarship athletic program . That period will commence on Sept . 1 , 2012 . Berea has not had a football team since 1904 . Christian identity . Berea was founded by Protestant Christian s . It maintains a Christian identity separate from any particular denomination . The college ' s motto , " God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth " , is taken from Acts . One General Studies course is focused on Christian faith , as every student is required to take an Understandings of Christianity course . In effort to be sensitive to the diverse preferences and experiences of student and faculty , these courses are designed to be taught with respect for the unique spiritual journey of each individual , regardless of religious identification . Library collections . The Hutchins Library maintains an extensive collection of books , archives , and music pertaining to the history and culture of the Southern Appalachian region . The Southern Appalachian Archives contain organizational records , personal papers , oral histories , and photographs . Included are the papers of the Council of the Southern Mountains ( 1912 – 1989 ) and the Appalachian Volunteers ( 1963 – 1970 ) . Sustainability . Berea ' s Campus Environmental Policy Committee ( CEPC ) is developing a set of indicators by which to measure the progress of the college toward ecological sustainability , creates bi - annual reports on that progress , and links the school ' s efforts to green campus operations with its mission to raise consciousness of environmental issues among faculty , students , and staff . Berea addresses environmental sustainability from both an operational and an intellectual perspective ; the school emphasizes an experiential education for its students , combining hands - on work with academic exploration . Berea ' s Ecovillage is a living / learning community comprising 50 apartments . The community houses students and student families , and it includes a child development lab , an environmental studies demonstration house , wetlands , a permaculture food forest , individual gardens , and the " ecological machine , " which is a wastewater treatment system that naturally treats sewage to reuse quality . Berea ' s sustainability initiatives earned it a " B " grade on the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card , published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute . Berea ' s grade placed it in the top 23 % of schools nationwide , surpassed by only three schools in the Southeast .