Campus Compact Member Schools Contribute $7.1 Billion in Community Service

(PRLEAP.COM) Providence, RI — During the 2005-2006 academic year, students at Campus Compact member colleges and universities contributed an estimated 377 million hours of service in their communities — valued at $7.1 billion — according to the organization’s annual member survey. This figure marks a significant increase from last year’s findings of $5.6 billion, reflecting greater support structures for service on campus as well as growth in membership. Figures reflect only service organized and reported by member campuses; they do not capture other student volunteer work.

Campus Compact’s 1,000+ member campuses have made significant strides in facilitating student service and civic engagement. Virtually all have established community partnerships through which they administer service programs. They are also increasingly incorporating student civic outcomes in their strategic plans: 90% emphasize student service to the community as a strategic goal. This institutional commitment has led to a sharp increase in the proportion of students engaged in campus-organized service, from just 10% in 1998 to 28% in 2001 to 32% in 2006.

In addition to creating volunteer opportunities, 91% of member campuses now offer service-learning courses, which incorporate service into the curriculum, and they’re offering more of these courses than ever — an average of 35 per campus, up from 27 five years ago.

"Service-learning is continuing to grow as a valued pedagogy, and our member institutions are pioneers in the field," notes Campus Compact president Maureen F. Curley. "Support for service-learning and other engagement activities at the institutional level is at an all-time high, and students are eagerly participating."

Other key findings from the survey include:

* Among all members, 85% have at least one staff person and 80% have an office or center dedicated to coordinating service, service-learning, and/or civic engagement activities. More than a third have two more offices.
* The most common service programs on member campuses focus on tutoring and mentoring (each offered at 91% of responding campuses), a reflection of the high number of campuses partnering with local K-12 schools. Other commonly addressed issues include poverty (82%), reading/writing (82%), housing/homelessness (81%), hunger (81%), the environment (78%), and health care (77%).
* Faith-based institutions report the highest level of student service at 49%, followed by liberal arts schools at 45%.
* Minority-serving institutions offer the greatest number of service-learning courses, averaging 64 courses per campus.
* Research universities are the most likely to have a service or service-learning office (88%), while minority-serving institutions were most likely to have a dedicated staff person (95%).

Campus Compact has conducted a member survey each year since 1987 to assess the current state of campus-based community engagement and to identify emerging trends. This year’s data was gathered using an online survey of member campuses reporting activity during the 2005-2006 academic year. Out of 1,045 member campuses, 580 reported data, yielding a response rate of 55.5%.

Editors: An executive summary and full results of the 2006 Annual Campus Compact Member Survey is available at http://www.compact.org/about/statistics/2006. The value of service and amount of service broken down by state is available at http://www.compact.org/about/statistics/2006/value.

Campus Compact
An independent, nonprofit association under the umbrella of Brown University, Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 1,000 college and university presidents — representing some 6 million students — who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building civic engagement into campus and academic life. For more information, visit http://www.compact.org.

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