Berea College Scholarship USA 2027: No-Tuition Degree, Deadline and How to Apply

Berea College will cover 100% of tuition, housing, food, fees and supplies for every enrolled student starting in Fall 2027. No loans are part of the package. This is the Financial Freedom Pledge, which the college announced in August 2026.

There is no separate scholarship form to win this. Admission to Berea carries the funding with it. International students apply through one application and must submit everything by November 30, 2026.

Berea is undergraduate-only. Every student also works at least 10 hours a week in the college’s Work Program.

What the Berea College scholarship is

Berea College is a private liberal arts college in Berea, Kentucky. It has not charged tuition for more than 130 years. Instead, it covers the tuition bill of every admitted student through grants and its own funds.

For students entering in Fall 2027, the college goes further. The Financial Freedom Pledge guarantees 100% of tuition, housing, food, fees and supplies, without loans, for all students. The college estimates the four-year package at more than $285,000.

The funding follows the admission decision. You apply for admission, not for a separate award.

What the funding covers

• 100% of tuition
• Housing
• Food
• Required college fees
• Supplies (added under the pledge from Fall 2027)
• No student loans anywhere in the package

This is a four-year undergraduate degree. Berea offers majors in more than 33 fields of study leading to Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. The student-to-faculty ratio is 10:1.

What you still have to pay

The one cost Berea’s official pages name for international students is the enrollment deposit: $2,200 (US).

Admitted students pay the deposit to confirm enrollment. Berea holds it, and students can draw on it for certain expenses during their four years. The I-20 form for the F-1 student visa is issued only after the deposit arrives and the required forms are complete.

If your family cannot pay all or part of the deposit, Berea says additional financial aid is available. Each admitted student’s situation is considered on its own.

Beyond the deposit, students cover personal expenses from their Work Program earnings.

A note on older figures: some scholarship guides still mention a $50 entrance fee and a $1,000 yearly contribution expected from the second year onward. Neither appears on Berea’s current official international pages. The Fall 2027 pledge covers tuition, housing, food, fees and supplies with no loans. Treat older figures as outdated unless the college confirms them.

The Work Program

Every Berea student holds a paid campus job. The requirement is at least 10 hours a week. International students can join without a work permit because the program is part of the college’s educational and financial aid structure.

Most international students work 15 to 20 hours a week and earn over $2,000 during the school year. Students can stay on campus during holidays and summers, when they may work up to 40 hours a week.

The earnings cover personal expenses. Berea states plainly that they are not enough to support a family back home.

Who can apply

Berea admits students who show academic promise and significant financial need. The college reviews academic credentials, financial need, ambition and sense of purpose, and recommendations. The requirements for international applicants:

• You are applying for an undergraduate degree. Berea offers no master’s programs.
• You have not earned a bachelor’s degree before. Students who already hold one cannot be admitted.
• You meet your own country’s university entrance requirements and have strong secondary or leaving exam results.
• You submit scores from an approved standardized test. There are no exceptions to this rule.
• New international students enroll only in the Fall term.

Admission is very competitive. Berea admits about 40 or fewer new international students each year. A typical school year has about 120 international students from more than 70 countries, nearly 10% of the student body. Berea rarely offers admission to more than one student from any country in a year.

The personal essay carries real weight. The college asks applicants to give it very careful attention, because it helps the committee understand who you are and why you are applying.

Students who have already started university elsewhere can apply as international transfer applicants. Berea says it considers these applications but reserves its limited space for students who have had no chance to study higher education, at home or abroad. If you have earned university credit after finishing secondary school, include all university transcripts and follow the international application guidelines. Transfer admission is considered mainly for students with less than 1.5 years of earned credit.

English and test score requirements

Berea lists these minimums. Scores must be less than two years old at the time of application.

Test	Minimum score
TOEFL iBT	68
IELTS	6.0 overall, 5.0 in each area
Duolingo	95
SAT	980 combined
ACT	19 composite

The Nursing program sets higher English requirements: TOEFL iBT 83 with 26 on the spoken section. Students admitted with lower scores cannot enter the Nursing major until they meet the required scores, and they get the chance to retest.

Duolingo is taken online, which suits applicants in Pakistan. Berea does not provide DET coupon codes, so it advises applicants to ask their school administration to request one through the Duolingo website.

How to apply: step by step

All materials go through Berea’s online application portal. Incomplete applications are not considered.

1. Start the application on the Berea admissions portal.
2. Complete the application form and the International Personal Essay.
3. Send official scores from one approved test: TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, SAT or ACT.
4. Upload official secondary school records.
5. Complete the International Financial Questionnaire with accurate family financial information. Bank statements are not required.
6. Submit the personal statement of financial circumstances.
7. Arrange two recommendation forms, at least one from a current or former teacher.
8. Submit everything by November 30, 2026. Berea does not grant extensions. If you miss the deadline, apply for the next academic year.

There is no application fee.

Apply through Berea’s official international applicant page, which also lists the college’s own deadlines and requirements.

You may reapply in a later year if you are not admitted. A stronger test score can improve a second application.

A timeline for Pakistani applicants

Working back from the November 30, 2026 deadline:

• Now: book your English test date. If you already have IELTS or TOEFL scores under two years old, use them. Otherwise compare preparation time for IELTS, TOEFL and Duolingo and pick the one you can prepare for fastest.
• September 2026: request your secondary school records, ask teachers for the two recommendation forms, and start the personal essay.
• October 2026: send official test scores and complete the International Financial Questionnaire.
• November 2026: submit the full application well before the deadline. Do not leave it to the last week, because late applications get no extension.

Deadlines for the Fall 2027 intake

Milestone	Date
International application deadline	November 30, 2026
Decision notification	Mid-March (no later than March 31)
Commit deadline	May 1, 2027

Admitted students confirm by May 1. After the $2,200 deposit and required forms are in, Berea issues the I-20 for the F-1 student visa.

Life in Berea, Kentucky

Berea is a small town of about 14,000 people in central Kentucky, around 40 miles south of Lexington. The terrain is hilly. Temperatures run 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit in spring and summer and 20 to 40 in fall and winter.

Local families take part in a host program that gives international students a family away from home. It is not a homestay and not a source of financial aid, and joining is encouraged but optional.

FAQs

Also consider

If you are building a list of funded undergraduate options in the USA, these are also on this site:

• Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship 2027
• Tokyo Global Partner Scholarship 2027
• WACA Student Scholars Program 2026