MEDILL NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL REPORT
McCain, Bayh Propose Hiking Federal Work-Study's Community Service Commitment
By CANDICE PRATSCH
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - Proposed legislation that would increase the amount of federal funds that colleges and universities must allocate to community service has some university officials wondering how they will meet the new requirements, while others said they could easily comply.

The bill, proposed by Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would raise the amount of work-study money used for community service from 7 to 25 percent by 2010, an increase of 2 percent each year.

Students who apply for work-study positions are employed through their universities in jobs ranging from answering phones to tutoring inner-city youth. Their wages help pay tuition costs.

As under current law, the proposed legislation would allow schools to develop community service projects that are "designed to improve the quality of life for community residents, particularly low-income individuals, or to solve particular problems related to their needs."

In the 1999-2000 school year, when the requirement was at 5 percent, colleges, universities and trade schools spent an average of 11.8 percent of work-study funds on community service, according to Education Department figures.

While that was above the minimum requirement, there were many colleges that reported allocating less than 5 percent to community service.

Of the 3,091 schools that received federal work-study funding in 1999-2000, 219 spent 5 percent or less on community service.

In 1998, Congress raised the minimum amount of federal funds to be provided for community service from 5 to 7 percent after a 1991 study by the General Accounting Office - the investigative agency of Congress - found that only a small percentage of the money was used for community service.

Some colleges and universities said it was difficult to meet the increased requirement and said they didn't know how they would comply if the McCain-Bayh proposal becomes law.

Joe Russo, director of financial aid at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., said the increase would put a financial strain on the university.

"We'd have a real challenge there because we have so many students who volunteer to do community service without being paid," Russo said. "We might have to raise tuition to pay for it."

In 1999-2000, Notre Dame contributed 3.6 percent of work-study funds to community service. When the 7-percent requirement took effect in 2000-2001, the school gave 4 percent to community service.

He estimated that 75 to 80 percent of Notre Dame undergraduate students are involved in community service on their own, rather than through a work-study program.

An official at a university in New York state said that although his school complies with the minimum requirement, an increase to 25 percent would be difficult to meet.

B.J. Revill, assistant director of financial aid at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., said the bill would be "great in theory," but the "25 percent would kill us."

Revill said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the four-year liberal arts school with 2,000 undergraduate students to meet the minimum requirement.

He said the university was located in a small town of 6,400 people and that other area colleges compete for a limited number of community-service jobs.

But David Fevig, financial aid director at Valparaiso University in Indiana, said his school would have no problem meeting the proposed requirement.

Of 3,600 students, about 420 qualify for work-study and 50 of those perform community service-related work-study.

For the 2000-2001 academic year, the university contributed 18 percent of work-study funds to community service.

"It looks like we could make 25 percent without a whole lot of effort," Fevig said.

He said some students work for nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, and the Hilltop Neighborhood House, which provides health and child care for needy families in Northwest Indiana.

Identical versions of the bill are expected to be introduced in the Senate and House soon. Reps. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., and Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn., are co-sponsoring the bill.

Senate legislative aides said they were still trying to determine punishments for schools that don't meet the proposed 25 percent minimum.

A Senate Democratic aide wouldn't speculate on chances for the bill's passage but said that it definitely would not pass before the end of the year.

The bill also would expand AmeriCorps from 50,000 to 250,000 members by 2010 and would eliminate the tax on financial awards that AmeriCorps volunteers receive to help pay for college or student loans.

The proposed bill also would encourage older Americans to volunteer by creating a program to grant a $1,000 award, called a Silver Scholarship, to seniors who spend 500 hours tutoring and mentoring children. The volunteer would choose a child who would receive the money to pay for educational costs.

The bill also is intended to encourage enlistment in the military by creating a short-term enlistment program. The program would require participants to serve 18 months of active duty and 18 months of military reserve service and would give them an $18,000 bonus payment at the end of their service.

Graphics
Graphic of Best/Worst Schools

Graphic of Top 20 U.S. Schools and Their work-study percentage spent on community service

Graphic of Best States

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