Students Contribute Billions In Service To Communities – UM-based Montana Campus Compact

Every year, cities and towns throughout the United States receive billions of dollars’ worth of volunteer service from students who attend local colleges and universities.

In 2004, nearly one-third of the nation’s higher education campuses — the members of Campus Compact — accounted for more than $4 billion alone.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 950 college and university presidents — representing some 5 million students — dedicated to promoting community service, civic engagement and service-learning in higher education.

Montana Campus Compact, based at The University of Montana, works to provide project funding, training, technical assistance and other resources to students, faculty and staff members to facilitate civic engagement activities on Montana’s college and university campuses. The organization is a coalition of the state’s college and university presidents, chancellors and deans who are committed to fostering a renewed vision for higher education that supports civic engagement through community service and volunteerism.

The 2004 Campus Compact Annual Member Survey showed that more than 30 percent of students participate in community service, averaging four hours of service each week.

Using the latest Independent Sector figures based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the value of the volunteer work, these students each contributed more than $2,200 in service during the school year. In addition to participating in community service, students also are increasingly involved in decision-making and administrative processes that maintain civic engagement.

Overall the survey results show that service, service-learning and civic engagement have not only become a standard facet of the higher education experience, but also are continuing to advance. The number of programs is on the increase, as are support mechanisms for student, faculty and staff participation in service and civic engagement.

More information about the UM-based Montana Campus Compact is available at http://www.mtcompact.org. To read an executive summary and full results of the 2004 Annual Campus Compact Member Survey, go to http://www.compact.org/survey/.

Contact: Devon Bates, Campus Compact, (401) 867-3950, [email protected].

http://news.umt.edu/index.asp?sec=1&too=100&eve=8&dat=8/2/2005&npa=850