College of the Ozarks — Attraction in Hollister

I attended here from 2016 to 2019, at which time I submitted an extremely overdue withdrawal request and transferred. In the spirit of fairness, I will first list the pros of CofO: some of the faculty and staff hired there are the most proficient, kind, and hardworking individuals you could ever meet. I am certain they are not paid nearly enough nor appreciated enough for the genuine care they have for the students. They are truly significant exceptions to the generally foul and deceptive operations of the college at large. Now for the cons. CofO is a scam and almost every one of the advertised benefits and core tenets upon which they flaunt the 'uniqueness' of their model is a blatant lie. For starters, the college is in no way, shape, or form "free." There are hefty fees sprinkled throughout the entirety of your stay. $250 "health and tech fees" twice per year, and over $8,000 per year out of pocket for room and board should you be unlucky enough to not receive the Summer Work Program to pay these expenses. The latter alone has led to many withdrawals of people who simply cannot afford to attend this "free" college. The reasons to avoid this place do not at all stop there, however. This college is riddled to a dangerous extreme with arbitrary rules, and disobedience of any sort is punished with severe consequences. Students are kicked out of college consistently as if they have an expulsion quota. This results in permanent stains left on personal records, making for very difficult and humiliating explanations to family and friends, not to mention future colleges or employers. Expulsion-worthy offenses include but are not limited to: low work grades, drinking on OR off campus, women wearing shorts with less than a 5 inch inseam, any extramarital sxual activity on OR off campus, creating/distributing/interacting with memes that are in any way irreverent of the college or its leaders, missing curfew by even 1 minute, not attending enough of the endless required chapel services or convocations, not cleaning your room well enough every week... the list is eternally ongoing. Most shockingly of all, I have known of several instances of the college's rigid rule adherence and otherwise outright neglect of students' safety that have resulted in easily preventable tragedy: Losses including the deths of students for whom the college clinic would not treat or call emergency services, as well as an infamous case of two students who were s*xually assaulted by a homeless man in their vehicle after sleeping in an off campus parking lot because they were afraid to enter campus after curfew. The college is EXTREMELY image conscious, and as such it will be difficult for those outside the college to gain access to the details of such events. In general, campus life is oppressive, demanding, and cruel. Dorm rooms are old, small, and structurally unsafe, as well as filled with black mold and cockroaches. Food safety is inconsistent, dubious. I cannot count the times I've contracted food poisoning there. Academics are average to poor quality. Administration is aloof to and often the direct cause of incompetence in the design of campus functions and features, despite their insistence that they are there to help any students with concerns. College life isn't dreadful for everyone attending, a lucky few have purported to have had a pleasant time at CofO. Unfortunately, it is too easy for such people to dismiss some unsavory realities with a very cavalier and condescending, "That wasn't MY experience, you just don't want to work hard!" The college employs a variety of techniques to encourage widespread approval of their business model, which are predictably very effective on a few. Namely, treating it as everyone's God-ordained imperative and privilege to attend CofO. I was incredibly disappointed by my experience at this "college", and I would implore anyone to consider almost any other choice...

Yesterday my son graduated "college" and is now a proud Kindergartner. I cannot thank all of the students and teachers at the College of the Ozarks Preschool enough for the amazing start they have given my son.

From the safety locks on the doors, to the emergency drills, to the smiling faces of the students and faculty, to the anticipation my child had every day desiring to go to preschool every morning, to the field trips around campus that he talked about for weeks afterwards, to the summer swimming trips to the pool, to all of the wonderful friends he made while at your preschool. I could go on and on, so I think I will.

The faculty: Kristy and her staff are absolutely amazing. You couldn’t have a more organized, more caring, more loving, more supportive staff. They are true leaders setting an exceptional example for each of the students that work there including the little ones they keep. I was always informed of schedules, things going on at the school, given great information about the community, and immediately contacted if there was ever an injury or emergency. I knew that even though students were watching my child, there was an outstanding leadership above them guiding them step by step and showing them how to succeed. The faculty was not only caring for my child, and not only teaching these students how to do this profession, but they were and are showing these students how to be parents. How to care for their future children, how to set up others for success, how to be true leaders for their community. Wow. What a responsibility and the faculty does this with the utmost of grace and true sincerity. They deserve to be applauded, again and again.

The students: Holy cow. To know that “college students” have been caring for my child should make any parent run for the hills. However, the students at College of the Ozarks truly break the mold. We have always been greeted with a smile and a “Fin! There’s my main man!” or “Where’s Fin! I’ve been waiting all morning for you to get here!” From “blue room” to “yellow room” Fin has talked about each and every one of his student teachers and some have made such a big impact on him that he even invited them to his birthday party. And…they came! Now what other “college students” do you know that would come to a 4 year old’s birthday party? I’ll tell you who, College of the Ozarks students. Fin was so excited to see them and show them off and introduce them to all of his friends and family. Again, wow. What an impact each student teacher has had on my little boy. Now I know the cuddles are supposed to be rare and kids are supposed to grow up, go off, and do things on their own. But I have to say as a parent, sneaking in a bit early to pick up my kiddo one day and seeing my little boy sitting in the lap of a student teacher at age 6 while getting a book read to him? There’s something special about that. He loves his student teachers. He loves the faculty. And even though he never wanted to “go to Ms. Kristy’s office” he loved Ms. Kristy too.

For 4 years they have helped mold my child to be a great patriot, with great Christian morals. They have taught him to be a great leader and a truly great person. My husband and I will always be forever grateful for their care, love, and support. From the deepest part of our hearts, we thank College of the Ozarks Preschool. We highly recommend any parent to bring their child there whether they are age 2 or age 18, College of the Ozarks Campus is an impeccable facility with an...

If you're looking for a place to oppress you and seal off the outside world, then Cult of the Ozarks is the right place for you! Not only do they force you to go to chapel in a country where you supposedly have freedom of religion, but they even tell you what kind of person to be! If you've ever wanted to find who you are on your own, CofO guarantees you won't do that here. Not only are they run by the donors who think this is still the 30's, but our president himself refuses to acknowledge the changing society. Once he banned ALL electronic use in the caf! You can imagine how that went. And another blessed thing about this school, is everyone is hypocritical! If you think partying doesn't go on here, I can tell you that you are DEAD WRONG. And the dorms are DISGUSTING, riddled with cockroaches and black mold, yet for some idiotic reason they raised room and board. If you want to major in something other than nursing or cows, you're screwed sir. Buildings are outdated and rundown. The buildings are comparable to a cow patty someone looked at and said, "I'm going to teach in that." Chapels are VERY DULL. The convos always suck, and the college spends thousands on renovating the cottages for guests, new china at the Keeter yet, I have a hole in my wall and my A/C is broken. THANKS FOR SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME...