Bennington College Description:
Bennington College's 470 acre campus is located in the woods and farmland of Southern Vermont. Founded as a women's college in 1932, Bennington is now a highly selective coeducational private liberal arts college. The college features an impressive 9 to 1 student / faculty ratio and an average class size of 12. Students come from 41 states and 13 countries. Unlike most colleges, students at Bennington develop their own programs of study with the faculty. One feature of Bennington's creative curriculum is the seven week Field Work Term during which students study off campus and gain work experience.
Admissions Data (2012):
- Percent of Applicants Admitted: 63%
- What Are Your Chances? (from Cappex.com)
- Bennington is a test-optional college
- Test Scores -- 25th / 75th Percentile
- SAT Critical Reading: - / -
- SAT Math: - / -
- SAT Writing: - / -
- ACT Composite: - / -
- ACT English: - / -
- ACT Math: - / -
Enrollment (2011):
- Total Enrollment: 822 (686 undergraduates)
- Gender Breakdown: 34% Male / 66% Female
- 100% Full-time
Costs (2012 - 13):
- Tuition and Fees: $44,220
- Books: $1,000 (why so much?)
- Room and Board: $12,770
- Other Expenses: $2,550
- Total Cost: $60,540
Bennington College Financial Aid (2010 - 11):
- Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 84%
- Bennington College Scholarships (Cappex.com)
- Percentage of New Students Receiving Types of Aid
- Grants: 80%
- Loans: 63%
- Average Amount of Aid
- Grants: $25,553
- Loans: $6,289
Most Popular Areas of Study:
Drama, English, Liberal Arts, Visual and Performing Arts, Social Sciences
Transfer, Graduation and Retention Rates:
- First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 85%
- Transfer Out Rate: 22%
- 4-Year Graduation Rate: 58%
- 6-Year Graduation Rate: 67%
Data Source:
National Center for Educational Statistics
Bennington College Commencement Statement:
This commencement statement has been read at every graduation since 1936. It can be found at http://www.bennington.edu/go/about-bennington.
"Bennington regards education as a sensual and ethical, no less than an intellectual, process. It seeks to liberate and nurture the individuality, the creative intelligence, and the ethical and aesthetic sensibility of its students, to the end that their richly varied natural endowments will be directed toward self-fulfillment and toward constructive social purposes. We believe that these educational goals are best served by demanding of our students active participation in the planning of their own programs, and in the regulation of their own lives on campus. Student freedom is not the absence of restraint, however; it is rather the fullest possible substitution of habits of self-restraint for restraint imposed by others."
