Sterling College

Work-Learning-Service and Sustainability

Sterling College is one of only seven colleges nationwide to be designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Work-Learning-Service college. Sterling is New England’s only such college.

At Sterling, all residential students work at least 80 hours each semester and earn a minimum of $1,600 towards their college costs. Additional earnings are possible through work-study positions, summer internships, and residence hall supervision. Work at Sterling, whether it’s on the farm, in the kitchen or dormitories, in an office, at the local public school, or at a needy neighbor’s home or farm, is valued in a number of ways. The Work-Learning-Service program lets students of every level contribute to the day-to-day operation of the College, which functions as a sustainable community and needs the cooperation and skills of everyone involved to prosper.

As an environmental college and close knit community it is part of our mission to model small scale, regionally suitable sustainable living practices. Sterling has practiced recycling, composting, and energy conservation for over two decades. But sustainability practices at Sterling go well beyond energy conservation.

Guided by its mission statement, Sterling applies the four compass points as a way to thinking about sustainability. Instead of north, south, east and west, Sterling labels the four directions of sustainability as Nature, Society, Economy, and Well-being. How we continue to institute sustainable practices into the daily life of the College is an evolving process in which everyone in the community is deeply involved. Examples of sustainable practices can be found in every corner of campus.