This past spring, A’licia Williams, 20, a student at Miami Dade College, spent a week working with Breaking Free—an organization that serves survivors of sex trafficking in St. Paul, Minnesota—as part of her college’s alternative spring break service program. Even as Williams and her peers were making a difference in the lives of those who survived horrible circumstances, the one-week service experience altered the course of Williams’ life as well. After speaking to a trafficking survivor and learning about the woman’s efforts to reconnect with her daughter despite the trauma she had endured, Williams made a decision about the future. Reflecting on her service, as well as on her own difficult upbringing—being raised by a mother who dropped out of high school and growing up without a father’s presence—Williams, a pre-med student, realized her true passion was to pursue a career as an adolescent psychologist.
Williams’ experience working with the St. Paul service organization inspired her to become more involved in her community at home in Miami, Florida. Since her spring break experience, Williams has volunteered in the maternity ward at a local hospital and has become an advocate for student service through her work-study job at her college’s Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy, where she works 17 hours a week. Moreover, Williams says that her service experiences are helping prepare her for a career of assisting children and teens overcome challenges similar to the ones she faced as a child.
Today, Williams juggles a part-time job, which contributes to her family’s bottom line, with her school and service schedules. She is determined to make the balancing act work. Williams is on track to graduate with an associate’s degree in psychology in 2016 and plans to go on to a four-year college after graduation. And she says that service has become both a valuable part of her education and a way to prepare for a career in the social service field.
Learning through service has been shown to have many important and tangible benefits for students, including enhanced leadership skills, increased self-confidence, and improved academic outcomes. It can also provide students with relevant workforce experience that builds the types of skills employers seek. Unfortunately, lower-income students, such as Williams, are less likely to participate in service while in college compared to their higher-income peers, which means they have limited access to the benefits that accrue from participating in service. More affluent students, meanwhile, may not be attending colleges that have established robust service opportunities, and all students need access to service programs that do not delay their progress toward completing a degree. Williams and other students who participate in service despite these challenges demonstrate a clear appetite for intensive service-learning opportunities on college campuses. But more must be done to help them pursue these opportunities.
Given the importance of service learning, colleges cannot keep treating service as merely an extracurricular add-on. Instead, the Center for American Progress proposes a new vision for service learning in higher education. Under the CAP proposal, colleges and universities would establish service programs that award college credit for service opportunities that directly relate to a student’s area of study. A student would spend up to one-quarter of their degree program participating in intensive service opportunities. When paired with some additional academic work, these service experiences would yield sufficient academic credit so that students stay on track to graduate. Importantly, these service programs would be eligible for federal student aid funds, which would make them more affordable for students.
Williams’ difficulty finding the time and resources to serve highlights the need for new ways of structuring these programs. She does not receive college credit for her service work at the hospital—nor did she earn credit for the service trip to Minnesota because there was no formal academic component to the program. Taking a week off from work to go to Minnesota meant working extra hours at her part-time job for the next week in order to catch up financially. Since Williams helps support her siblings, mother, and grandmother, she needed to make up the income lost during her service. Furthermore, the trip to St. Paul itself cost several hundred dollars, a sum that Williams struggled to pay despite fundraising to cover a portion of the expense.
Awarding credit for intensive service learning would go a long way toward overcoming the barriers that students such as Williams face. For the low-income and older students who make up an increasing share of today’s college attendees, adding sufficient academic rigor in order to make service programs eligible for federal student aid would help them pursue service while worrying less about how to cover increasingly high tuition bills. And students from all income backgrounds would benefit from receiving college credit, so they do not have to choose between service and taking longer to graduate.
This credit-for-service proposal is also a way to bridge the disconnect that exists today between students and their preparation for the workforce. While most students see getting a good job as a key reason for attending college, the majority of students do not believe college adequately prepares them for employment. At the same time, employers say that college graduates lack the skills they need for the real world. National service—community work that addresses the major challenges facing the United States—can mitigate this disconnect by allowing students to gain practical, real-world skills. Supplementary coursework can help students grow academically at the same time. Schools can spread the benefits of service in a smart, accessible, and effective way by implementing programs that pair national service with learning, and the federal government can facilitate this process for community colleges and universities.
This report lays out what it would take for colleges and universities to establish the types of programs discussed above. In particular, it considers how these programs could overcome barriers to service, as well as what they would need to do to become eligible for federal student aid. The report also includes real-life examples of colleges and students participating in the exact type of opportunities this proposal would like to see flourish.
Carmel Martin is the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress. Ben Miller is the Senior Director for Postsecondary Education at the Center. Shiv Rawal is a Special Assistant for the Economic Policy team at the Center. Phoebe Sweet is Director of Speechwriting at the Center.
Alicia Williams, mwanafunzi wa miaka 20 katika Chuo Kikuu cha Miami-Dade, alitumia wiki moja kufanya kazi na Breaking Free, shirika linalowahudumia waathirika wa biashara ya ngono huko St. Paul, Minnesota, kama sehemu ya programu ya huduma ya mapumziko ya spring ya chuo kikuu. Hata kama Williams na wenzake walikuwa wakifanya tofauti katika maisha ya wale waliokoka hali mbaya, uzoefu wa huduma ya wiki moja ulibadilisha mwendo wa maisha ya Williams pia. Baada ya kuzungumza na mwanamke aliyeponyoka biashara ya binadamu na kujifunza juu ya juhudi za mwanamke huyo kuungana tena na binti yake licha ya majeraha aliyokuwa amevumilia, Williams alifanya uamuzi kuhusu siku zijazo. Akizungumzia maisha yake ya utumishi, na pia maisha yake magumu ya kulelewa na mama aliyeacha shule ya sekondari na kukua bila baba, Williams, mwanafunzi wa matibabu, alitambua kwamba shauku yake ya kweli ilikuwa kufuatia kazi kama mwanasaikolojia wa vijana. Uzoefu wa Williams kufanya kazi na shirika la huduma la St. Paul ulimchochea kuhusika zaidi katika jamii yake nyumbani huko Miami, Florida. Tangu uzoefu wake wa mapumziko ya majira ya kuchipua, Williams amejitolea katika wadi ya uzazi katika hospitali ya ndani na amekuwa mtetezi wa huduma ya wanafunzi kupitia kazi yake ya kazi-mafunzo katika Taasisi ya Chuo Kikuu cha Ushirikiano wa Raia na Demokrasia, ambapo anafanya kazi masaa 17 kwa wiki. Williams anasema kwamba uzoefu wake wa utumishi unamsaidia kujitayarisha kwa kazi ya kuwasaidia watoto na matineja kushinda magumu kama yale aliyoyakabili akiwa mtoto. Leo, Williams anafanya kazi ya muda, ambayo huchangia mahitaji ya familia yake, pamoja na shule yake na ratiba za utumishi. Ameazimia kufanya jambo hilo lifanikiwe. Williams anaendelea na masomo yake ya kwanza ya shahada ya kwanza ya saikolojia mwaka 2016 na ana mpango wa kuendelea na masomo yake ya chuo kikuu baada ya kuhitimu. "Anasema: ""Kutumikia kwa wengine ni sehemu muhimu ya elimu yangu na njia ya kujitayarisha kwa ajili ya kazi katika uwanja wa huduma za kijamii." Kujifunza kupitia huduma imeonyeshwa kuwa na faida nyingi muhimu na dhahiri kwa wanafunzi, ikiwa ni pamoja na ujuzi wa uongozi ulioimarishwa, kujiamini kwa kuongezeka, na matokeo bora ya kitaaluma. Pia inaweza kuwapa wanafunzi uzoefu muhimu wa kazi ambayo hujenga aina za ujuzi ambao waajiri wanatafuta. Kwa bahati mbaya, wanafunzi wa mapato ya chini, kama vile Williams, ni chini ya uwezekano wa kushiriki katika huduma wakati katika chuo kikuu ikilinganishwa na wenzao wa mapato ya juu, ambayo inamaanisha wana upatikanaji mdogo wa faida zinazotokana na kushiriki katika huduma. Wanafunzi wenye utajiri zaidi, wakati huo huo, wanaweza kuwa hawaendi vyuo vikuu ambavyo vimeanzisha fursa thabiti za huduma, na wanafunzi wote wanahitaji upatikanaji wa programu za huduma ambazo hazicheleweshi maendeleo yao kuelekea kumaliza shahada. Williams na wanafunzi wengine ambao wanashiriki katika huduma licha ya changamoto hizi huonyesha hamu ya wazi ya fursa za kujifunza huduma kwa bidii katika vyuo vikuu. Lakini mengi zaidi yanapaswa kufanywa ili kuwasaidia kutumia fursa hizo. Kwa kuzingatia umuhimu wa kujifunza huduma, vyuo vikuu haviwezi kuendelea kutibu huduma kama tu nyongeza ya ziada. Badala yake, Kituo cha Maendeleo ya Marekani inapendekeza maono mapya ya kujifunza huduma katika elimu ya juu. Chini ya pendekezo la CAP, vyuo vikuu na vyuo vikuu vitatengeneza programu za huduma ambazo hutoa mikopo ya chuo kikuu kwa fursa za huduma zinazohusiana moja kwa moja na eneo la utafiti wa mwanafunzi. Mwanafunzi angetumia hadi robo ya programu yao ya digrii kushiriki katika fursa za huduma ya kina. Wakati paired na baadhi ya kazi ya ziada ya kitaaluma, uzoefu huu huduma ingekuwa kutoa mikopo ya kutosha ya kitaaluma ili wanafunzi kukaa juu ya kufuatilia kuhitimu. Programu hizi za huduma zitastahili kupata fedha za misaada ya mwanafunzi wa shirikisho, ambayo itawafanya kuwa rahisi zaidi kwa wanafunzi. Ugumu wa Williams kupata wakati na rasilimali za kutumikia unaangazia hitaji la njia mpya za kuunda programu hizi. Yeye haipati mikopo ya chuo kikuu kwa kazi yake ya huduma katika hospitali - wala hakupata mikopo kwa safari ya huduma ya Minnesota kwa sababu hakukuwa na sehemu rasmi ya kitaaluma kwa programu. Kwa kuwa alikuwa amechukua likizo ya juma moja ili kwenda Minnesota, alihitaji kufanya kazi ya ziada kwa muda wa juma lililofuata ili apate pesa za kutosha. Kwa kuwa Williams husaidia kuitegemeza ndugu zake, mama, na nyanya, alihitaji kulipia mapato aliyopoteza wakati wa utumishi wake. Kwa kuongezea, safari ya St. Paul yenyewe iligharimu mamia kadhaa ya dola, kiasi ambacho Williams alijitahidi kulipa licha ya kukusanya fedha ili kulipia sehemu ya gharama. Kutoa sifa kwa ajili ya kujifunza huduma ya kina ingekuwa kwenda njia ndefu kuelekea kushinda vizuizi kwamba wanafunzi kama Williams uso. Kwa wanafunzi wa kipato cha chini na wazee ambao wanafanya sehemu inayoongezeka ya wahudhuriaji wa chuo kikuu cha leo, kuongeza ukali wa kutosha wa kitaaluma ili kufanya programu za huduma ziwe na haki ya misaada ya mwanafunzi wa shirikisho itawasaidia kufuata huduma wakati wa kuwa na wasiwasi kidogo juu ya jinsi ya kufunika bili za masomo ya juu. Wanafunzi kutoka kila hali ya mapato watafaidika kutokana na kupokea mikopo ya chuo kikuu, kwa hivyo hawatahitaji kuchagua kati ya huduma na kuchukua muda mrefu kuhitimu. "Upendeleo huu wa ""malipo kwa ajili ya huduma"" pia ni njia ya kuunganisha kutokuunganishwa kwa wanafunzi na maandalizi yao kwa ajili ya kazi." Wakati wanafunzi wengi wanaona kupata kazi nzuri kama sababu kuu ya kuhudhuria chuo kikuu, wengi wa wanafunzi hawaamini chuo kikuu kinawaandaa vya kutosha kwa ajira. Wakati huohuo, waajiri husema kwamba wahitimu wa chuo kikuu hawana ustadi wanaohitaji katika ulimwengu halisi. Kazi ya huduma ya kitaifa - kazi ya jamii ambayo inashughulikia changamoto kuu zinazokabili Marekani - inaweza kupunguza kutokuunganishwa hii kwa kuruhusu wanafunzi kupata ujuzi wa vitendo, wa ulimwengu halisi. Mafunzo ya ziada yanaweza kuwasaidia wanafunzi kukua kitaaluma wakati huohuo. Shule zinaweza kueneza faida za huduma kwa njia ya busara, inayoweza kufikiwa, na yenye ufanisi kwa kutekeleza programu ambazo zinaunganisha huduma ya kitaifa na kujifunza, na serikali ya shirikisho inaweza kuwezesha mchakato huu kwa vyuo vikuu vya jamii na vyuo vikuu. Ripoti hii inaelezea nini ingechukua kwa vyuo vikuu na vyuo vikuu kuanzisha aina ya mipango kujadiliwa hapo juu. Kwa mfano, ni muhimu kujua jinsi programu hizi zinaweza kushinda vizuizi vya huduma, na pia nini watahitaji kufanya ili kuwa na haki ya msaada wa mwanafunzi wa shirikisho. Ripoti hiyo pia inajumuisha mifano halisi ya vyuo vikuu na wanafunzi wanaoshiriki katika aina halisi ya fursa ambazo pendekezo hili lingependa kuona likifanikiwa. Carmel Martin ni Makamu wa Rais Mtendaji wa Sera katika Kituo cha Maendeleo ya Marekani. Ben Miller ni Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa Elimu ya Baada ya Sekondari katika Kituo hicho. Shiv Rawal ni Msaidizi Maalum wa Timu ya Sera ya Kiuchumi katika Kituo hicho. Phoebe Sweet ni Mkurugenzi wa Uandishi wa Hotuba katika Kituo hicho.