GoKawiilVermont's Mountain School Charges $40,000 for a Semester of Farm Chores
Vermont's Mountain School enrolls high schoolers for roughly $40,000 per semester, having them cook, clean, farm and care for animals on its 418-acre campus instead of following a typical classroom schedule. About 30% of students receive financial aid, and many come from wealthy families unfamiliar with basic chores like cleaning a composting toilet or sweeping a floor.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The program reflects how affluent families are searching for unconventional credentials to stand out in an increasingly cutthroat college admissions landscape, even if that means paying a premium for manual labor and rustic living. It also highlights a growing niche market of pricey 'semester away' programs modeled on the Mountain School's decades-old format, raising questions about who can actually access these supposed character-building experiences.
- Mountain School charges about $40,000 per semester for farm work, chores and academics.
- Families view the program as both a digital detox and a differentiator for college applications.
- The school helped pioneer the costly 'semester away' model that other programs have since copied.
Source: entrepreneur.com — Sherin Shibu, 2026-09-16
Published there as: “High School Students Are Betting That Paying $40,000 a Semester to Do Farm Work Will Help Them Get Into College”
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