High school senior Bartleby Gaines is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges, which isn't going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he's not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl Monica? Simple. Open his own university. Bartleby and his band of misfit freshmen take "liberal" arts literally when they fool their parents and peers and create the esteemed South Harmon Institute of Technology.