Alice Lloyd College

Private · Moderately Selective · KY

Photo: Nyttend (Public Domain)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationKY · South

SettingRural

Undergrads558

Student:faculty15:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate27.1%

6-yr grad rate38.9%

Drop-out rate43.4%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$14k

Out-of-state tuition$14k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity8.6%

Gender diversity50.5%

International0.5%

Identity—

Overview

Alice Lloyd College is a work college in Pippa Passes, in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, that guarantees tuition-free education to students from its defined Appalachian service region. Every student works a campus job in place of paying tuition, and the school's founding purpose was to develop leaders who stay in and serve the mountains rather than leave them.

Academics

The curriculum is a liberal arts core with a longstanding strength in teacher education, taught in small classes typical of a school this size.

Campus & student life

The work program is not supplementary financial aid — it is structural to daily life, with every student holding a campus job alongside coursework. The campus is remote and close-knit by necessity, similar in spirit to Berea College's work-college model.

Getting in

Admission priority goes to students from the college's defined central Appalachian service region, consistent with its regional-development mission, and the school looks for students committed to the work requirement, not just academic fit.

Worth knowing

The tuition-free work model is the entire premise of the school, not a scholarship layered on top of normal tuition — applicants should understand the work-college commitment, and that the mission is explicitly regional: developing leadership that stays in Appalachia.

alc.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate75.2%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 710–960 · ACT 16–22

Test policyoptional

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying