What lessons can work colleges offer to the rest of higher education?

When students graduate from Sterling College, a work college in northern Vermont, they leave with more than a degree—they also have a solid resume, says Josh Bossin, professor of outdoor education and associate dean of work experience learning.

"The ability to try different jobs while in school is like cutting in line in life experience," Bossin says. "They end up finding what they love."

Work colleges, while rare, have existed for over 100 years, maintaining a small but steady presence in the United States since before the Civil War.

According to theFederal Work-Study Program Handbook, to be a work college, an institution must be nonprofit, offer four-year degrees, and provide students with employment opportunities through a work-learning-service program that contributes to their education.

Sterling College is one of 10 institutions in the United States designated as work colleges, along with Berea College, Paul Quinn College, and Warren Wilson College.

The work college designation is different from an institution offering federal work-study—the latter is a program based on students' financial aid status. Work colleges require all residential students to work at least five hours per week or 80 hours per semester through the program.

Sterling College, which offers bachelor's degrees with an ecology focus, is the smallest work college, with only 126 students in fall 2021. According to Bossin, the work students do is an extension of classroom learning. Each job has clear learning objectives, and working students are closely supervised by faculty and staff.

"If our students are studying ecology, they might work in science labs or manage them on campus," Bossin says. "They are able to do jobs that reinforce topics learned in the classroom."

Sterling College assigns work positions by semester, after which students can reapply or request a change. According to Bossin, some students try four to five jobs in their first two years until they find the right fit.

Students who work at Sterling College are compensated in the form of tuition credits applied directly to their bills. Tuition is priced at $39,200 per year, but students in the work program typically earn between $1,000 and $3,500 per semester, depending on the type of job and hours worked, Bossin says.

He adds that the tuition discounts earned are enough to impact students' lives, both during college and after graduation.

This difference has caught the attention of some higher education leaders. The cost of higher education is often at the center of debates about thevalue of a college degree. And initiatives once considered radical for addressing college costs—such astuition resetsand state-levelfree college programs—are becoming more common.

Community colleges are at the forefront of the accessibility conversation, but they don't always integrate work experience into education, nor do they always offer students the opportunity to earn four-year degrees.

So, could work colleges offer a work-oriented model for other institutions to learn from?

Adult learners and the work college model

In November, the American Council on Education (ACE)released a reportdetailing how work colleges serve working learners and post-traditional students—those aged 25 or older, often working full-time, with military backgrounds, and caring for dependents.

The report found that the advantages of work colleges—reduced or free tuition, work experience, and mentorship from college faculty and staff—address students' concerns about the cost and practical applicability of a college degree. It also found that work colleges can make life easier for adult learners by combining academics and work.

Louis Soares, ACE's chief learning and innovation officer and one of the report's authors, says the deliberate combination of learning, work, and service is the most compelling part of the model.

"There's a notion that work adds to the quality of the experience and the character of the person," Soares says. By combining academics with work-based learning, students can build a solid educational foundation while learning how to adapt to a changing labor market, he says.

But the work college model can also present drawbacks for adult learners. Soares notes that most work colleges are located in rural areas and rely heavily on residential students, both of which can make it difficult for working adults to integrate. He adds that their curricula also seem geared toward younger students.

"Much of the focus of the work curriculum tends to be on the early stages of an individual's working life. And working adults are often those who don't have a college degree or have some college credits and have been working for a while," Soares says.

At Sterling College, 75% of students are 24 or younger. But according to Bossin, the college does have a significant number of non-traditional first-time students and those seeking second degrees. In the 2019-2020 academic year, one-fifth of Sterling College students were non-traditional, the highest proportion among the nine work colleges studied by ACE.

Most non-traditional students at Sterling College are commuters and therefore are not required to participate in the work-learning-service program. But according to Bossin, more than half of commuter students still choose to participate. Although voluntary, the program is often what attracts students to Sterling in the first place, he says.

Bossin says the work experience ultimately holds nearly as much value for students as the degree, and for potential employers as well.

Scaling up

Another challenge is the relative size of work colleges. Most work colleges enroll fewer than 1,000 students. The largest, College of the Ozarks in Missouri, enrolled 1,479 students in fall 2021.

The scarcity and small size of work colleges mean that only a small number of students nationwide can attend. Across all 10 institutions, total enrollment at any given time is unlikely to exceed 7,000. But scaling up work colleges could cause them to lose one of their advantages—a strong sense of community.

"Its size creates a cohort that helps build community. So if you have 40,000 students, can you do that? It's unclear whether that scale is a viable path," Soares says.

Based on interviews conducted by ACE, Soares suggests that work colleges looking to scale up find ways to replicate the community they offer at their original size. For example, a 300-student work college aiming to enroll 2,400 should continue to offer students groups of 300 or smaller. This would help maintain a sense of community during growth and give students more time for face-to-face interaction with each other and professional mentors.

In Sterling College's case, it could likely enroll more students if it wanted to. In fall 2021, the college admitted 41% of applicants.

But Bossin says Sterling College enjoys the work model and everything that comes with it.

"We've realized that we would probably do this even without the federal designation," he says. "We take pride in our ability to give students autonomy and responsibility for real work with significant impact, and we've invested a lot of energy in it."

Soares believes this mindset is exactly what makes work colleges advantageous. He says higher education is still trying to better integrate formal education and people's careers.

"Work colleges, while not having all the answers, have been addressing these challenges for a long time," Soares says. "We're in the early stages, and I suspect we'll eventually see significant shifts in colleges and workplaces. Some of those final elements already exist in today's work colleges."

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Sterling College students are typically paid for their work. Their pay helps cover tuition but does not cover the full sticker price.