THE KEETER CENTER

Have you ever heard of College of the Ozarks (CO)?  CO is nicknamed "Hard Work U" because each full-time student that attends works on campus and along with educational endowments and scholarships, pays no tuition.  Yes, as in free tuition.

How does that work?
Basically……Work Program + Federal and State Grants + College of the Ozarks Scholarship = Your annual tuition!

Each student participates in the on-campus work program for 15 hours per week and two forty-hour work weeks. Earnings from participation in the work program, plus any federal and/or state aid for which students qualify, plus a College of the Ozarks Cost of Education Scholarship combine to meet each student’s full tuition charge.

Generous donors, who believe in what College of the Ozarks represents, make financial contributions, enabling the College to provide tuition (cost of education) scholarships in exchange for work on campus. If you paid cash for instructional expenses at CO, it would cost you $18,300 per year! Their students work off a portion of this charge by participating in the work program during the academic year (about $4,242 annually). If students qualify for Federal or Missouri state aid, those amounts are applied to the cost as well. The remaining balance is covered by a College of the Ozarks Scholarship for each student (a range from $5,828 to $13,458 per student)! So how much money do you pay for tuition at CO? $0.00!

What is the College of the Ozarks Cost of Education Scholarship?
The “Cost of Education” is the cost to the College for providing an educational opportunity….approximately $18,300 per year for each student. Most institutions pass along a portion of this cost as tuition; this is not the case at College of the Ozarks. The College guarantees to meet all of this cost for each full-time student by using earnings from its endowment, operation of its own mandatory student work program, accepting student aid grants, gifts and other sources. Each full-time student's Cost of Education is met 100% by participating in the work program, and a combination of private, institutional and federal/state student aid. The institutional aid provided for each student is the College of the Ozarks Scholarship.

The Keeter Center is located at the CO. The Keeter Center is a combination of fine dining, historic lodging, and meeting rooms featuring service, entertainment, and products made by CO students.  The students work at the Keeter Center.  It is one of the "work assignments" that help pay for their tuition.  One of the many experiences offered there is their Sunday brunch.  It is not cheap, but it is very nice.  Our group of friends decided we were going to go today for brunch to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries that have/are happening in September, October, and November.  Come to find out, it was many of us.

Our waiter was great.  His name was Greti. I'm not sure what nationality he is.  He was a little hard to understand but very gracious when one of us asked him to repeat something.  He took very good care of our needs and made it seem like it was a pleasure for him to serve us.

After he got our drink orders, we headed out to "graze".  They had an omelet station where you could order a custom made omelet.  There was a breakfast station with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, biscuits, gravy, and muffins.  Belgian waffles and carved ham were offered at another station.

Breakfast not your thing?  Don't worry.  There was a station with carrots & cauliflower, green beans, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, grilled chicken, and pork loin.  For those of you that love pasta, there was a station just for you.  I didn't go look at that station, but one of the bunch said it was the best pasta she had had in a long time.

If eating healthy is your thing, there was a salad station.  There were many things to combine for a green tossed salad.  There was also several prepared salads, all kinds of fruit, meat and cheese platters.

Salads

Of course, what would any brunch buffet be without a desert station?  Oh yeah! It was awesome!

 

Desert

They had a young man, who is a student, playing the piano while we dined.  As soon as we were finished with one plate, the waiter would pick it up and off we would go to sample something else.  Oh, I don't want to forget the rootbeer float station! Mr. W had had way more food than he normally eats in several days including desert, but decided to top all of that off with a rootbeer float.  He said it was very good but when his stomach started gurgling, he wasn't sure it was such a good idea!

Rootbeer Float Station

I am not one that usually goes to buffets or brunches because I don't get my money's worth.  However, diesel to drive there - $5; brunch for 2 with tip - $62; celebrating with friends - priceless.