The Wildest Texas Tech Secret: Why Students Were Bringing their Family Cows to Campus

Did you know that Texas Tech University's (TTU) dairy barn allowed students to pay for tuition with their family cow? I think I would go insane having to care for something like that while trying to study for my classes (talk about having a cow).

The Texas Tech Dairy Barn Hay Day

Back in the day, the dairy barn on the TTU campus offered students first-hand experience in caring for cattle for their studies. According to KTTZ-FM, students in the 1950s were able to bring up to three cows with them to campus.

The cows were then held in the dairy barn where students could tend to them. Any profits gained from the dairy products could then be used to pay off their tuition.

Cows weren't the only animals housed in the barn. There were also horses, sheep, and even pigs back in the day—all feeding the education of students in charge of their care.

Did Students Get Paid at the Dairy Barn?

The students who applied to work at the dairy barn on the TTU campus were indeed paid. They each received a whopping 60 cents an hour... for three hours each day.

Looking at $1.80 from 1950 with today's inflation, and that's roughly $24 each day just for working 3 hours at the dairy barn.

Don't forget, TTU tuition back in 1950 was about $500. That sure sounds nice, doesn't it?

TTU Dairy Barn in the History Books

The dairy barn left such an impact on the university that, in 1992, it was officially added to the National Registry of History Places as the "Texas Technological College Dairy Barn."