Photo: Bennett College. Retrieved from: www.bennett.edu
Bennett College isn’t your average four-year liberal-arts school. Located in Greensboro, North Carolina and affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Bennett College is a historically black school that caters solely to women. At Bennett, students are encouraged not only to succeed academically but pursue a life that is morally grounded and intellectually honest.
Over 700 students attend Bennett College and the school has 61 full-time faculty and 28 part-time faculty. Most classes at Bennett College are small with 98% of classes enrolling less than 30 students.
Upon graduation, Bennett hopes that their students will have reached 11 goals set out for them on the first day of school. Among those goals are; To achieve and maintain fiscal stability, to enhance and support the social, cultural and spiritual development of the students, to develop a deepened sense of community at Bennett College and to identify Bennett College as a United Methodist Church related college while respecting religious diversity.
Bennett College has just under 20 majors that it offers it’s students. One of the benefits of a liberal arts school is that a student does not have to know exactly what she wants to major in. A liberal arts school gives her various options that span across many categories. Majors offered include; Special Education, Visual and Performing Arts, and Chemistry.
School History
Bennett College was founded in 1873 as an elementary school in the basement of a Methodist Episcopal Church. It was later bought by emancipated slaves in 1873 where it offered students college level courses. Bennett College was co-educational until 1926 when The Women’s Home Missionary Society and the Board of Education turned the school into a college for women.
Campus Life
Freshmen and Sophomores are required to live on campus, but since it’s such an enriching experience, over 66% of students live in one of the seven residential halls. By living on campus, faculty at Bennett College hopes their students will “increase student involvement and motivation for student leadership development” and “have students become more intellectually mature and responsible for their own learning.”
While on campus students can participate in various honors societies such as Betta Kappa Chi, join Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority or the student film society. They can also play one of numerous sports offered on campus such as basketball, golf, and soccer. ROTC and Air Force ROTC are also offered on campus for interested students.
When not on campus, students can take advantage of the many options that Greensboro has to offer. As a major city with a population of nearly 25,000 residents One of 7 major universities within the city, Greensboro is a college-friendly city offering students many cultural activities and academic opportunities like internships and part-time jobs. Among the other colleges in Greensboro are, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elon University School of Law, and Guilford College.
Financial Aid
Attending Bennett College for a year will cost approximately $28,000. Bennett College offers financial aid to those students who qualify through loans, grants, and scholarships. In the 2011-2012 school year, all of the 97% of students who were found to need financial assistance received some form of it. Only 4% of these students got their financial needs fully met. The average award given out by the school is around $12,500.
