College Students Helping America: Full Report

Every day, colleges and universities provide college students' who represent a large and growing source of the nation's volunteers' with opportunities to deliver valuable services to communities across the country. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the nation has witnessed a significant upsurge in volunteers, particularly among this demographic. Both on campuses and in surrounding communities, millions of college students are participating in a wide range of volunteer service activities, from teaching and mentoring children from disadvantaged circumstances, to raising funds for worthy causes, to helping their fellow Americans recover from hurricanes and other disasters. The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. As part of that mission, the Corporation makes a significant investment in nurturing a culture of service on college campuses. Building on that support, the Corporation is working with other federal agencies, colleges and universities, higher education and student associations, and nonprofit organizations to encourage even greater levels of college student volunteering and to ensure that college graduates embark on a lifetime of service. Their goal is to increase the number of college students volunteering each year, reaching 5 million by 2010. To identify key trends in college student volunteering and to understand their implications for growing volunteering among college students, the Corporation has produced a new report, titled College Students Helping America. The report analyzes data collected from 2002 to 2005 as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a comprehensive and scientifically rigorous survey of 60,000 American households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the Corporation's support, the Census Bureau has administered a volunteer supplement to the CPS each September since 2002. For the purposes of this analysis, college students were defined as individuals between 16 and 24 years of age who, at the time of the survey, were enrolled in a post-secondary higher education institution. [authors]