By Laura Spitalniak and published at HigherEdDive.com

• California has announced a new college service program, called Californians for All College Corps, that will give eligible students $10,000 in exchange for 450 hours of volunteer work during an academic year. Up to 6,500 college students will be enrolled over the program’s first two years, beginning in fall 2022.

• California is investing about $146 million in the program, with the funds coming from the state budget passed last year, according to Josh Fryday, California’s chief service officer. The governor’s office called it the largest state-level investment in a college service program in California history.

• Some 45 colleges and universities were selected to participate through a grant application process. They include 19 community colleges, 15 California State University campuses, four private universities and almost all the institutions in the University of California system.

Dive Insight:

The corps is a viable addition to existing financial aid options for prospective students in California, according to Sandy Baum, an Urban Institute nonresident fellow who is an expert in higher ed finance and is professor emerita of economics at Skidmore College in New York.

“It’s not saying if you want money, you have to do this work,” said Baum. “It’s saying, in addition to our strong need-based grant program, we have an opportunity to combine community service with some extra money.”

The program is geared toward a diverse pool of candidates, including low-income students and eligible unauthorized immigrants, and it aims to help students graduate with as little debt as possible. Participants will get $7,000 for living expenses plus a $3,000 education award for each year completed.

That amount is meant to cover what a federal Pell Grant wouldn’t, according to Fryday, who will head the program. “If you step up to serve your community, we’ll help you pay for college,” he said in a statement.

The corps also aims to build leadership skills and a sense of civic responsibility. Service opportunities will focus on critical areas of need, including climate action, K-12 education, food insecurity and COVID-19 recovery efforts. 

It’s wise to have participants volunteering instead of working preexisting jobs, said Baum. “One of the problems programs like this sometimes run into is if they’re replacing minimum wage workers with the students,” she said. “Then people lose their jobs and it’s not going to be popular.” 

Any plan for economic recovery in California has to include a path to college for more low-income and vulnerable students, according to Jessie Ryan, executive vice president for the Campaign for College Opportunity, a California nonprofit working to make college more accessible. Ryan likens the Californians for All College Corps to AmeriCorps, a federal service program, and hopes California will give more students the chance to participate by eventually expanding.

“The work doesn’t end here,” she said, noting “6,500 students will be served by this program, but that’s a fraction of the number who need access and support.” 

Ryan participated in AmeriCorps VISTA more than a decade ago and says it helped her attend graduate school and ultimately work in public service. Unlike AmeriCorps, California’s program will allow unauthorized immigrants who qualify for in-state tuition under California law to participate, a first for a service program in the state.

“A successful launch of this program will have recruitment lead to a significant number of these 6,500 slots going to low-income students of color and Dreamers,” said Ryan.

Along with reducing educational costs for students, the program aims to establish a volunteer corps to support the state’s response to emergencies and disasters.