Students will have an even greater incentive to perform national service now that the Senator Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act passed in the U.S. Senate Thursday.
Named after Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, the act would bolster national service, including an increase in the federal education reward for volunteers from $4,725 to $5,350 and would triple the number of Americans in AmeriCorp if it passes in the House and President Barack Obama signs it into law. A similar version, called the Generations Invigorating Volunteering and Education Act, passed in the House March 18.
AmeriCorps is a federally funded organization that organizes volunteers to meet critical community needs, according to their website. Jumpstart, Massachusetts Promise Fellowship, Student Leaders in Service and Teach for America are all AmeriCorps programs.
Both the Serve America and GIVE acts provide for an expansion from 75,000 to 250,000 AmeriCorps members and provide focus on specific national issues, AmeriCorps spokesman Sandy Scott said.
Scott said AmeriCorps has been struggling to attract members, but the new legislation has already increased the amount of AmeriCorps applications. The number of applicants has tripled in the past month, Scott said.
Boston University Community Service Center manager Lindsey Wyld said she has seen an increase in the number of students interested in post-graduate community service programs.
‘With the way the economy is, I have seen an increase in AmeriCorps programs such as Teach for America,’ Wyld said. ‘Like a majority of students the choice is between Teach for America and grad school, and many choose Teach for America because they are nervous to try out that dream job.’
Teach for America is an AmeriCorps program that selects recent graduates to teach in low income communities for two years. The volunteers receive the starting salary of a new teacher with the same health care benefits and the AmeriCorps educational grant, according to the Teach for America website.
‘Teach for America has been popular here since these kinds of volunteer positions are more available than the jobs that our seniors would potentially go for,’ Wyld said.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said it was too early to see what kind of impact the bill would have on BU, but he said the bill was a good idea.
‘It is definitely an advantage to volunteer time and talent to needy programs,’ Riley said.
Although the stipend has increased, it is not enough to completely change the financial circumstances of volunteers, Wyld said.
‘They will still be in the same financial bowl, and these programs are not an easy way out,’ Wyld said
College of General Studies freshman Ben Copper agreed.
‘BU’s tuition is too high for the stipend to affect students’ decisions,’ Copper said.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Marlena Sherman said paying people for volunteer work may take away from its altruistic nature.
‘I think you shouldn’t even be getting money for volunteering because then it is not volunteer work if you are getting paid for it,’ Sherman said.
SAR freshman Cristina Brigante said that although the stipend is small, it is still important.
‘In an economic time like this people have a hard time paying for college and any amount of money can help,’ Brigante said.
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