Volunteering & Service: Grad School Benefits for Service Corps Members

Posted by Amy Potthast, who also blogs at The New Service.

::image::AmeriCorps members and Peace Corps Volunteers thinking about pursuing graduate degrees have a leg up in paying for school. More and more grad schools are extending special considerations to service corps participants and recent alumni to make grad school more affordable.

Social-impact grad school programs have many motivations for recruiting former service corps participants. In doing so, they build incoming classes of students who are highly focused, experienced, diverse, and trained as a result of service corps experience. They can also connect current students and alumni with new professional networks and opportunities.

Here are two examples of grad schools that are reaching out to service corps participants and alumni through admissions deferrals, application fee waivers, and special scholarships:

• The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University has recently announced a $1 million scholarship program for former AmeriCorps members and staff enrolling in the MBA or MPP programs – including committing $10,000 in tuition remission and matching the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. The Heller School also recently committed to its “give a year” scholarship for City Year corps members and staff and will offer up to ten scholarships per year. (The terms are similar to the National Service Scholars program above.)
• The Wagner School of Public Service at NYU likewise offers benefits to alumni of Peace Corps, Teach For America, Public Allies, and other AmeriCorps programs, including funding (from matching the Education Award to covering up to 50 percent of tuition) and waiving the admissions application fee for people who are currently serving.

Learn more about benefits that grad schools offer service corps by checking the grad school partnerships listings with:

• Peace Corps Masters International and Fellows/USA programs
• AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps NCCC
• Teach For America
• City Year

For more information, check out our podcast interview with Eileen Conoboy of Peace Corps, who discusses Peace Corps's grad school partnerships; our graduate school Q & A podcast, and our grad school resource center.