Admissions Requirements

Students who are most likely to be offered admission to Berea College show the strongest possible combination of academic preparation, scholarly success, character recommendations, and financial need.

Academic Eligibility
Admission to Berea College is academically competitive. We have a limited number of spaces in each year's entering class, and are looking for students with strong academic potential who are financially deserving.

Most of our students score between 20 and 30 on the ACT (1410 -1980 SAT) and have a cumulative high school GPA of at least 3.0 in a strong College Prep curriculum. We also consider other factors such as community service, leadership qualities, and levels of motivation.

We strongly recommend the following high school curriculum:

• Four (4) units of English (including composition, rhetoric, and literature)
• Three (3) units of Mathematics (at least Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry)
• Two (2) units of Laboratory Science
• Two (2) units of Social Science/History (including World History)
• Two (2) units of foreign language

Transcripts and official score reports are required for evaluation of academic qualifications. Students may take either the ACT or SAT.

Financial Eligibility
Since Berea College provides a remarkable opportunity for students who have great academic promise but limited economic resources by awarding everyone a 4-year, tuition scholarship, the College has established a policy for determining each family's financial eligibility for admission.

For 2008-09, that policy permits a maximum annual parental contribution of $4,750—as determined by Congressional Methodology, using each family's information as provided on the FAFSA. Because of this, Kentucky students are encouraged to submit the FAFSA form by March 15th. All other students should submit FAFSA information by April 15th and no later than May 1st of the calendar year the student plans to enroll.

Students may submit the Family Resource Questionnaire online to be considered for admission prior to the availability of the FAFSA. You may submit your FAFSA online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.

Please use the the Would I Qualify? form to better understand if you will meet Berea's financial qualification requirement. You may also want to reference the Berea College Financial Eligibility Guidelines.

However, please remember that these are only general guidelines. Final determination of financial eligibility could be affected by many factors such as number of family members in college, untaxed income, and social security benefits.

If you have any questions about meeting Berea's financial requirement, please contact the Admissions Office.