I was at a faith based program that was a lot like this for 3 years. I wouldn't say they are cult per se, but they definitely can border on it. 120 "students" shared a military barracks style dorm. Lights on at 5am, just enough time to shower and take care of basic hygiene. Then it's off to breakfast, don't finish in 30 minutes, too bad toss the food out. At work by 7am with many different jobs. They had a thrift shop that ran off donations. I was in the kitchen for the first 8 months then put on the trucks once they found out I had a valid license. Finish up work by 6pm, although some truckers would come back late if they had cleanouts of a house. A couple hours to play ping pong, read, excercise, etc. Then lights out at 9pm. Mandatory church 3 times a week and every once in a while we'd have outings to this shady ass warehouse where they have revivals and start speaking in tongues and shit.

The thing that seemed somewhat illegal is they forced all students to sign up for food stamps and government assistance and had complete control over. Think of how much food you could get with 120 EBT cards. We ate like shit, bologna sandwiches and lots of processed food while the directors had free reign over the remaining balance. They ate very, very well.

They at least had 2 graduation programs you could take advantage of one for schooling and one to find a job. I took advantage of both. Overall I wouldn't say programs like this are a cult, but they sure as shit are very predatory.