When it adopted the federal work-study program as part of the Higher Education Act of
1965, Congress made its intentions clear. Along with helping college and university
students pay for their schooling through part-time employment, the twin purpose of the
program was to encourage students to participate in community service activities that
would benefit local communities and engender in students a sense of social responsibility.
Yet, over the last three decades, the program has drifted away from that original
purpose. While a few campuses, such as Case Western Reserve, dedicate more than half their
work-study funds to community service, they are the rare exceptions. At most colleges and
universities, work-study funds serve primarily to finance low-skilled jobs such as sorting
mail or serving food that may very well assist campuses in meeting budgets, but are
unrelated to societal needs or the personal goals of students. These jobs are far removed
from work-study's supposed purpose of service to the community. It is long, long past time
for Congress and the Administration to insist that the work-study program place equal
emphasis on its second original intention.
This year about 930,000 students will receive more than $870 million in financial aid
through the work-study program, an eight-fold increase from 1965. But the growth has come
without much attention to the original Congressional aim of placing students in community
service positions. A 1991 General Accounting Office study made clear that only a tiny
fraction of students receiving work-study funds were then engaged in community service. In
response, Congress amended the Higher Education Act to require that at least 5 percent of
work-study funds be used for students engaged in community service. That requirement will
increase to 7 percent, beginning in fiscal year 2000.
Even with this improvement, only about one out of every fifteen work-study dollars will
be required for community-service. This is simply not enough. As a down payment on
returning to the original congressional vision, at least one half of work-study funds
should be earmarked for community service use. This step will be in the direct interest of
students, of their colleges and universities, and - most importantly - of communities
everywhere.
Our democracy depends on active and engaged citizens working together for their
communities. This is exactly what community service encourages. Students come to
understand what problems the community faces, the richness of its diversity, the need for
individual commitments of time and energy to enhance civic life, and most of all the
importance of working as a community to resolve common concerns. Community service is a
powerful antidote to the dangerous disengagement of college-age youth in the civic
processes that are essential for our society.
Particularly when linked to academic study and structured reflection in what has come
to be termed "service learning," community service can help students gain more
insight into their academic courses as well as a better understanding of who their
neighbors are and what they owe to each other.
Work-study funds can readily be linked to service learning courses. Students gain
academic credit for their course work and financial aid for their community service, while
the academic and the community work both strengthen and reinforce each other. Colleges and
universities will benefit because the use of work-study funds for community service can be
a powerful means for recruiting community-spirited students. Most importantly, campuses
will increasingly be seen as preparing good citizens and as good citizen partners.
At the same time, a 50 percent community service requirement will enormously benefit
cities and towns that desperately need workers to help build their communities. Two recent
programs begun by the Administration underscore how such help can be used. America Reads,
which encourages work-study students to serve as reading tutors in elementary schools, has
already attracted thousands of tutors. A similar effort, called America Counts, is
expanding federal work-study to encourage mathematics tutoring.
In his 1996 commencement address at Penn State University, President Clinton made the
case for such a change: "If it's good for students to earn money by putting books
back in library shelves or working in the Dean's Office, surely it makes sense for them to
earn money helping teen mothers handle their responsibilities, helping older people get
around, helping young people to look to a brighter future." He was right. It is time
now for Congress to reaffirm that community service is one of the twin purposes of the
work-study program, and to require that at least half of each institution's work-study
funds be used for that purpose.
