Americorps: Earning Tuition Credits

Earning Tuition Credits

Doing Well by Doing Good

The national service program lets students earn tuition credits

AmeriCorps is a national service organization established by an Act of Congress in September 1994. Its members participate in a variety of programs from tutoring at-risk youth to counselling crime victimes, to building affordable housing. In exchange for service, members receive an array of benefits, including tuition assistance.

We explain here what a student needs to know to participate:

What is AmeriCorps?

It is a national initiative that allows members to serve full or part-time in more than 350 public service programs nationwide. In exchange for a year or two of service, members receive a modest living allowance, health coverage, and free education awards. Any American citizen or permanent resident of the United States who is 17-years old or older, is eligible, regardless of income.

How does it help pay tuition bills?

Participants receive living allowance, roughly equal to minimum wage, while earning an education award for up to two years for completing 1,700 hours of service. The award is less for part-time service. Students can use this credit within five years of completion of service to help pay for college, graduate school, or vocational training, or to repay a loan if they have already been to school.

Does the program have and other benefits?

In addition to the post-service award, participants will be gaining skills that will be useful in later life. They are developing the ability to make change in their communities and nurturing a life-time commitment to service. The program is not that different from the Peace Corps, which many say is the most important experience in their life.

Earning Tuition Credits. Photo by Elena.

What kind of programs can participants be involved in?

There are hundreds of programs nationwide. They include Habitat for Humanity, the I Have a Dream Foundation, the American Red Cross, the Community on AIDS Partnership, the New York Police Department and more. In 2003, for example, a team of 88 members put together an outreach campaign that helped immunize 104.000 infants in  Texas. In the summer of 2014, a group of Kansas City, Mo. working with the local police department, helped to close down 12 crack houses.

Depending on the program, your child serve for nine months or up to three years, full- our part-time, and before, during or after college or job training. The AmeriCorps tries to give individuals the maximum amount of choices.

Are some programs more popular and more difficult to get into than others?

So far, there has been a strong demand for all the programs. But each individual program has its own screening process. Some programs have a limited number of slots which they want to fill with some local people, and with some people from outside the area. In addition, some applications require essays. The number of people selected to participate in the AmeriCorps is increasing.

What is the application procedure?

Each program has a different answer. But if you are interested you should go to their website. When you receive a referral form, it will ask whether you want to receive more information (literature on the programs available in your area, or from all over the United States. The form will also ask about your interests, so the experts can tell what kind of programs you might like. Programs that start in early fall begin recruiting in spring. Programs that start In January recruit in early fall or winter.