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News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
Oct. 11, 2007
Community Service Crackdown
The U.S. Education Department is toughening its enforcement of a federal law that requires colleges to award at least 7 percent of their federal work study funds to students engaged in community service.
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The department has long required postsecondary institutions to reach a minimum threshold on the proportion of work study funds for community service, and while college officials overwhelmingly support the concept, administrators at some institutions — particularly in rural areas, where opportunities to participate in community service may be few — have struggled to meet it. The law also requires that each institution sponsor at least one project in which work study students tutor children in reading or work on family literacy. (The education secretary is empowered to exempt an institution from the requirement when “enforcing the requirements ... would cause a hardship for students at the institution,” according to federal rules.)
As the percentage requirement has increased over the years, from the pre-2000 figure of 5 percent of an institution’s total federal work study funds to the current 7 percent, colleges have taken various steps to try to ensure that they meet the standard, and the Education Department has regularly reminded them of their obligation. But the cost of failure has been negligible, as there was no penalty for noncompliance.
That is now changing. The department announced in a “Dear Colleague” letter in May that beginning in the 2007-8 award year that started this month, “[a]n institution that participates in the [work study program] that fails to meet one or both of the ... community service requirements ... will be required to return [federal work study] funds in an amount that represents the difference between the amount that the institution should have spent for community service and the amount that it actually spent.” The department also warned institutions that failure to comply with the requirements could result in the financial aid death penalty: a “limitation, suspension and termination proceeding,” which could lead to a college’s inability to award any federal aid to its students.
The department’s Federal Student Aid office followed that general warning with a letter in June to nearly 300 colleges that had fallen below the 7 percent threshold in the 2005-6 fiscal year. Inside Higher Ed requested a list of the institutions and information about their compliance with the community service requirements under a Freedom of Information Act request, and the list appears below. It included a broad mix of types of colleges (two-year, four-year, public, private, for-profit) that varied widely in the extent and apparent scope of their shortfalls.
Upper Iowa University awarded 6.92 percent of its $332,158 federal work study dollars to students engaged in community service, just narrowly missing the 7 percent ceiling, for instance, while Norwich University, in Vermont, is shown as directing not a single dollar of its $544,840 in federal work study funds to community service. Same for Southern University and A&M College,
Rhodes College awarded just $2,915 (or 1.6 percent) of its $180,233 in federal work study funds to students engaged in community service, according to the Education Department’s data. Forrest M. Stuart, director of financial aid at Rhodes, said in an interview that the independent institution in Memphis had met the community service requirement just once since he arrived there in 2000, a fact that he “hated.” Seventy percent of students at Rhodes perform some kind of community service, Stuart said, so the problem isn’t that its students don’t want to contribute to society.
But fewer than half of the students at Rhodes qualify for federal need-based financial aid, and Stuart said that “most of the people who are doing community service work don’t qualify for federal aid,” and many “high need” students “don’t have transportation to go off campus” to the heart of downtown Memphis, where most of the community service jobs are.
Rhodes’ failure to meet the requirement has aggravated and frustrated Stuart and other officials there, but the stakes went way up this spring, when college administrators were alerted after a required federal financial aid audit that they would be required to repay the portion of the 7 percent requirement that Rhodes did not spend. “It took me by surprise; I did not know they could do that,” Stuart said. The college later received the Federal Student Aid office’s letter, he said, which made it clear that “they are putting teeth into that” requirement for the first time.
Rhodes began adapting its policies immediately, paying higher hourly wages to work study students who do community service while participating in the college’s innovative Student Associate Program, which is aimed at giving students management-style responsibilities instead of more menial campus jobs. For instance, the college is giving work study funds where appropriate to students who are coordinating reading tutors in local schools, and paying them significantly more than minimum wage. Rhodes has also significantly increased the number of social service organizations with which it collaborates, and those changes, among others, helped the college fulfill the community service requirement in 2006-7, with between 8 and 9 percent of its federal work study funds going to community service participants, Stuart said.
Palm Beach Community College also fell short of the community service requirement in 2005-6, according to the Education Department’s data, allocating $15,596, or 3.93 percent, of its $396,882 in federal work study funds for community service participants. The two-year institution has been “in and out of compliance” over the years, says its financial aid director, David Bodwell, mainly because under county law, its officials must sign new contractual agreements each year with the school districts social service groups that employ its students, and “executing them in a timely fashion proves to be difficult” because employees turn over, rules change, etc.
Palm Beach made several changes in the 2006-7 fiscal year, including employing many of its work study students over the summer and contracting with one agency that can accommodate many more students than the college needs to fulfill the requirement. “With those two efforts, we’re going to exceed the minimum requirement by threefold” this year, Bodwell said.
While some college officials might rue it when the Education Department comes knocking on their door (or, in this case, their mailbox, to mix a metaphor), Kristin Tichenor, vice president for enrollment management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said she actually welcomes the department’s heightened scrutiny of colleges’ compliance with the work study rules. “From a philosophical standpoint, what we’re most excited about — as excited as you can get about a government enforcement operation, I suppose — is that it elevates the importance of community outreach for our students” and “gives us the ammunition we need to make this a priority for colleagues on campus,” Tichenor said.
Although many students Worcester Polytechnic participate in community service, she said — students logged 95,000 community service hours as part of the campus “project experience” that is a graduation requirement — just 3.24 percent of its federal work study funds went to students working in the community. That’s mostly because students who would qualify for work study funds are often doing low-level campus jobs for their federal money and performing community service on their own time, and the institution did a “woeful” job of tracking the community work its students did, Tichenor said.
Worcester Polytechnic is crafting a new system that will prod campus managers to direct work study students to community-related work that can qualify under the federal program’s guidelines. Not only will the new arrangement result in the institution easily surpassing the federal requirement, said Tichenor, but it will allow the institution to keep much better track of its students’ civic activities on a campus where “if you threw a stick, you’d hit somebody who was doing community service.”
“We wouldn’t have done it without the push” from the Education Department, Tichenor added. “For my purposes, this has turned out to be a blessing.”
The following is a list of institutions that received letters this summer from the Education Department because they failed to comply with the community service requirement — presumably some of whom may not see the inquiries as quite the blessing Tichenor does:
Recipients of Letter on Work Study Community Service Requirement and Their Level of Compliance With It
|
Institution |
State |
Final Federal |
Share Spent |
% of Work Study Funds |
|
Marion Military Institute |
AL |
$20,000 |
$0 |
0.00% |
|
Southern Community College |
AL |
31,628 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Arkansas Baptist College |
AR |
35,715 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
22,557 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
47,438 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
30,918 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
25,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
47,335 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Church Divinity School of the Pacific |
CA |
14,915 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Strayer University |
DC |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Middle Georgia Technical College |
GA |
2,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Southern U. and A&M College at Baton Rouge |
LA |
1,243,085 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Bryman Institute |
MA |
4,086 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
WyoTech — Bedford |
MA |
10,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Fisher College |
MA |
85,308 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Hellenic College & Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology |
MA |
17,613 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Concordia University |
MI |
76,608 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Dunwoody College of Technology |
MN |
120,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Wentworth Military Academy & Junior College |
MO |
1,809 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American Academy of Dramatic Arts |
NY |
45,286 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Bryant & Stratton Business Institute |
NY |
136,250 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Maria College |
NY |
11,814 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Sage Colleges |
NY |
205,076 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
SUNY Maritime College |
NY |
33,325 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Villa Maria College of Buffalo |
NY |
48,140 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American Baptist Theological Seminary |
TN |
7,391 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
ATI Technical Training Center |
TX |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Angelina College |
TX |
156,406 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Prairie View Agricultural & Mechanical University |
TX |
1,446,422 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Stevens Henager College |
UT |
30,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Norwich University |
VT |
544,840 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Kee Business College |
VA |
13,074 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Saint Paul’s College |
VA |
351,638 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Perry Technical Institute |
WA |
35,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Bellin College of Nursing |
WI |
8,291 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Lincoln Technical Institute |
MD |
29,363 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Berean Institute |
PA |
12,491 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
AMI American Motorcycle Institute |
FL |
25,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American College of Hairstyling-Des Moines |
IA |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Southeastern Business College |
OH |
13,318 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Bais Binyomin Academy |
CT |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Rasmussen College — Minnetonka |
MN |
35,291 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American College of Hairstyling-Cedar Rapids |
IA |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Dance Theatre of Harlem (The) |
NY |
3,082 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
International Academy of Design and Technology |
PA |
118,689 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Missouri School of Barbering & Hairstyling-St. Louis |
MO |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American Academy of Art |
IL |
10,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Savannah River College |
GA |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Modern Hairstyling Institute |
PR |
25,937 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Modern Hairstyling Institute |
PR |
7,941 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Modern Hairstyling Institute |
PR |
12,411 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Gwinnett Technical College |
GA |
100,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Las Vegas College |
NV |
37,570 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
MTI College of Business and Technology |
TX |
114,284 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Capitol City Careers |
TX |
27,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Mountain West College |
UT |
59,298 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Everest College |
AZ |
10,438 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Akron Machining Institute |
OH |
9,266 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Rabbi Jacob Joseph School |
NJ |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Magnolia Bible College |
MS |
2,772 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Florida National College |
FL |
75,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
New England Technical Institute |
CT |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Southern Careers Institute |
TX |
32,457 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Central Florida College |
FL |
50,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Cooking & Hospitality Institute of Chicago (The) |
IL |
25,051 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Lamson College |
AZ |
4,686 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Arlington Baptist College |
TX |
999 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Academy of Court Reporting |
CA |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
American College of Medical Technology |
CA |
17,746 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Platt College |
OK |
7,759 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Saint Vincents Catholic Medical Centers of New York Bklyn &Qns. Region |
NY |
9,600 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Academy College |
MN |
1,079 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Bryman College |
WA |
16,386 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Trinity College of Nursing and Health Sciences Schools |
IL |
7,748 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Miami Ad School |
FL |
10,574 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Davis College |
NY |
23,147 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Apollo College |
ID |
36,684 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Apex School Of Theology |
NC |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Williamson Christian College |
TN |
20 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
North Florida Institute |
FL |
50,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Connecticut Culinary Institute |
CT |
40,964 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Remington College — San Diego Campus |
CA |
36,560 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Virginia College at Pensacola |
FL |
45,831 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Winner Institute of Arts & Sciences |
PA |
3,137 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Lamar Institute of Technology |
TX |
25,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Rosedale Bible College |
OH |
10,851 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Sanford-Brown Institute |
NY |
29,146 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Chicago School of Massage Therapy |
IL |
4,360 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
East Valley Institute of Technology |
AZ |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Community Enhancement Services |
CA |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
PC Tech Learning Center |
NJ |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Culinary Institute Alain and Marie LeNotre |
TX |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Utah College of Massage Therapy |
UT |
200,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
South Florida Institute of Technology |
FL |
5,000 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
California School of Culinary Arts |
CA |
241,946 |
355 |
0.15 |
|
ABI-AccuTech Business Institute |
MD |
33,271 |
81 |
0.24 |
|
Cogswell Polytechnical College |
CA |
25,729 |
100 |
0.39 |
|
Berkeley College |
NJ |
98,769 |
468 |
0.47 |
|
Ohlone College |
CA |
89,006 |
591 |
0.66 |
|
Austin Graduate School of Theology |
TX |
5,618 |
39 |
0.69 |
|
Rochester Business Institute |
NY |
39,226 |
291 |
0.74 |
|
Augusta Technical College |
GA |
90,000 |
741 |
0.82 |
|
Antonelli Institute |
PA |
19,121 |
187 |
0.98 |
|
Atlanta Metropolitan College |
GA |
130,530 |
1,307 |
1.00 |
|
ATI-Career Training Center |
TX |
41,685 |
452 |
1.08 |
|
Fisk University |
TN |
244,247 |
2,784 |
1.14 |
|
New England Culinary Institute |
VT |
72,905 |
842 |
1.15 |
|
North Carolina School of the Arts |
NC |
48,999 |
578 |
1.18 |
|
Stratford University |
VA |
33,771 |
423 |
1.25 |
|
Judson College |
IL |
113,986 |
1,445 |
1.27 |
|
American Educational College |
PR |
60,000 |
778 |
1.30 |
|
National Institute of Technology |
TX |
50,715 |
686 |
1.35 |
|
Capitol City Trade & Technical School |
TX |
92,000 |
1,296 |
1.41 |
|
Rosemont College |
PA |
92,075 |
1,314 |
1.43 |
|
Pennsylvania College of Art & Design |
PA |
10,470 |
157 |
1.50 |
|
Western Career College |
CA |
277,060 |
4,311 |
1.56 |
|
Rhodes College |
TN |
180,233 |
2,915 |
1.62 |
|
National Polytechnic College of Engineering and Oceaneering |
CA |
38,385 |
639 |
1.66 |
|
Central Maine Community College |
ME |
51,847 |
973 |
1.88 |
|
Aquinas College |
MI |
151,303 |
3,312 |
2.19 |
|
McCormick Theological Seminary |
IL |
30,000 |
657 |
2.19 |
|
ECPI Technical College — Roanoke |
VA |
35,246 |
772 |
2.19 |
|
Luther Seminary |
MN |
66,237 |
1,457 |
2.20 |
|
University of the Arts |
PA |
401,905 |
8,890 |
2.21 |
|
Ner Israel Rabbinical College |
MD |
67,262 |
1,492 |
2.22 |
|
Cambridge College |
MA |
200,000 |
4,475 |
2.24 |
|
Apollo College |
AZ |
261,932 |
5,871 |
2.24 |
|
Southwest Institute of Technology |
TX |
28,172 |
652 |
2.31 |
|
Salem International University |
WV |
333,332 |
7,957 |
2.39 |
|
ECPI College of Technology — Virginia Beach |
VA |
248,268 |
5,981 |
2.41 |
|
Southwest Tennessee Community College |
TN |
601,320 |
14,560 |
2.42 |
|
Shimer College |
IL |
85,900 |
2,154 |
2.51 |
|
Miles College |
AL |
322,846 |
8,208 |
2.54 |
|
Florida Metropolitan University |
FL |
132,713 |
3,375 |
2.54 |
|
Lincoln University |
PA |
279,204 |
7,340 |
2.63 |
|
Advanced Technology Institute |
VA |
22,474 |
593 |
2.64 |
|
Camelot College |
LA |
42,033 |
1,119 |
2.66 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
31,778 |
877 |
2.76 |
|
Rosedale Technical Institute |
PA |
25,934 |
716 |
2.76 |
|
ECPI Technical College — Richmond |
VA |
105,946 |
2,992 |
2.82 |
|
Watkins Institute College of Art & Design |
TN |
19,204 |
544 |
2.83 |
|
Hawaii Business College |
HI |
45,543 |
1,356 |
2.98 |
|
Fashion Careers of California College |
CA |
15,252 |
466 |
3.06 |
|
Full Sail Real World Education |
FL |
425,000 |
13,017 |
3.06 |
|
Marylhurst University |
OR |
70,657 |
2,174 |
3.08 |
|
San Francisco Conservatory of Music |
CA |
95,514 |
2,988 |
3.13 |
|
Ramapo College of New Jersey |
NJ |
245,015 |
7,725 |
3.15 |
|
Creative Circus (The) |
GA |
18,390 |
593 |
3.22 |
|
Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
MA |
548,296 |
17,771 |
3.24 |
|
Sanford-Brown College |
MO |
325,945 |
10,569 |
3.24 |
|
Northwestern Health Sciences University |
MN |
150,000 |
4,920 |
3.28 |
|
Orleans Technical Institute |
PA |
43,943 |
1,442 |
3.28 |
|
Taylor Business Institute |
NY |
114,840 |
3,798 |
3.31 |
|
Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College |
MN |
43,842 |
1,467 |
3.35 |
|
David Lipscomb University |
TN |
112,069 |
3,933 |
3.51 |
|
Glendale Career College |
CA |
25,000 |
900 |
3.60 |
|
Caldwell College |
NJ |
109,738 |
3,962 |
3.61 |
|
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston |
TX |
189,747 |
6,888 |
3.63 |
|
Anoka Technical College |
MN |
50,000 |
1,818 |
3.64 |
|
Hill College |
TX |
82,074 |
2,987 |
3.64 |
|
Southwest Florida College |
FL |
188,856 |
6,940 |
3.67 |
|
Brown Mackie College-South Bend |
IN |
21,993 |
815 |
3.71 |
|
Capitol College |
MD |
51,396 |
1,905 |
3.71 |
|
Rush University |
IL |
300,000 |
11,280 |
3.76 |
|
University of South Carolina-Beaufort |
SC |
69,577 |
2,623 |
3.77 |
|
Parker College of Chiropractic |
TX |
125,000 |
4,762 |
3.81 |
|
Erie Business Center |
PA |
10,000 |
384 |
3.84 |
|
Grand Canyon University |
AZ |
223,660 |
8,653 |
3.87 |
|
College of Wooster |
OH |
270,916 |
10,556 |
3.90 |
|
Palm Beach Community College |
FL |
396,882 |
15,596 |
3.93 |
|
Ashmead College |
WA |
50,000 |
1,973 |
3.95 |
|
Louisiana College |
LA |
99,644 |
3,991 |
4.01 |
|
Brooks Institute of Photography |
CA |
223,004 |
8,939 |
4.01 |
|
National Institute of Technology |
MI |
89,355 |
3,616 |
4.05 |
|
Saint Charles County Community College |
MO |
70,000 |
2,861 |
4.09 |
|
Midwest Theological Seminary |
MO |
3,346 |
137 |
4.09 |
|
Drew University |
NJ |
267,773 |
10,981 |
4.10 |
|
Thunderbird — Garvin School of International Management |
AZ |
130,000 |
5,343 |
4.11 |
|
Sanford-Brown Institute |
FL |
124,960 |
5,188 |
4.15 |
|
Missouri Valley College |
MO |
156,409 |
6,525 |
4.17 |
|
SUNY Empire State College |
NY |
394,950 |
16,563 |
4.19 |
|
Kean University |
NJ |
440,172 |
18,570 |
4.22 |
|
Union Institute & University |
OH |
188,504 |
7,960 |
4.22 |
|
Edison College |
FL |
185,973 |
7,959 |
4.28 |
|
National School of Technology |
FL |
120,000 |
5,239 |
4.37 |
|
Oklahoma Panhandle State University |
OK |
44,222 |
1,955 |
4.42 |
|
Saint Martin’s College |
WA |
120,724 |
5,342 |
4.42 |
|
Brown Mackie College-Cincinnati |
OH |
200,000 |
8,868 |
4.43 |
|
Christian Brothers University |
TN |
172,372 |
7,702 |
4.47 |
|
Philander Smith College |
AR |
141,682 |
6,341 |
4.48 |
|
Texas Southern University |
TX |
1,127,687 |
50,582 |
4.49 |
|
Fuller Theological Seminary |
CA |
159,010 |
7,147 |
4.49 |
|
Schiller International University |
FL |
20,000 |
910 |
4.55 |
|
Wesley Theological Seminary |
DC |
21,733 |
1,000 |
4.60 |
|
Bryman College |
WA |
50,000 |
2,321 |
4.64 |
|
Eagle Gate College |
UT |
40,810 |
1,903 |
4.66 |
|
Luzerne County Community College |
PA |
200,000 |
9,332 |
4.67 |
|
Indiana University — Northwest |
IN |
175,097 |
8,210 |
4.69 |
|
Blair College |
CO |
56,315 |
2,705 |
4.80 |
|
University of Houston — Clear Lake |
TX |
156,292 |
7,529 |
4.82 |
|
Westwood College of Aviation Technology |
CA |
40,665 |
1,961 |
4.82 |
|
Wake Technical Community College |
NC |
70,000 |
3,416 |
4.88 |
|
Fort Scott Community College |
KS |
78,585 |
3,885 |
4.94 |
|
William Jessup University |
CA |
24,868 |
1,244 |
5.00 |
|
La Salle University |
PA |
572,794 |
28,747 |
5.02 |
|
Gibbs College |
CT |
85,000 |
4,303 |
5.06 |
|
Walla Walla Community College |
WA |
111,391 |
5,644 |
5.07 |
|
Elgin Community College |
IL |
180,490 |
9,178 |
5.09 |
|
Ogden Weber Applied Technology College |
UT |
84,187 |
4,341 |
5.16 |
|
New Mexico Military Institute |
NM |
17,000 |
878 |
5.16 |
|
Brevard Community College |
FL |
288,129 |
14,996 |
5.20 |
|
Fontbonne University |
MO |
90,000 |
4,689 |
5.21 |
|
Free Will Baptist Bible College |
TN |
17,822 |
932 |
5.23 |
|
Northland Mission |
WI |
29,145 |
1,558 |
5.35 |
|
Interboro Institute |
NY |
225,000 |
12,036 |
5.35 |
|
Bramson ORT College |
NY |
54,355 |
2,923 |
5.38 |
|
Alfred University |
NY |
266,204 |
14,640 |
5.50 |
|
Vanguard University of Southern California |
CA |
145,947 |
8,033 |
5.50 |
|
Floyd College |
GA |
105,688 |
5,878 |
5.56 |
|
Reinhardt College |
GA |
70,000 |
3,897 |
5.57 |
|
California Maritime Academy |
CA |
15,000 |
836 |
5.57 |
|
Bacone College |
OK |
83,333 |
4,655 |
5.59 |
|
South College |
NC |
20,310 |
1,136 |
5.59 |
|
International College |
FL |
108,924 |
6,132 |
5.63 |
|
National Institute of Technology |
WV |
37,995 |
2,139 |
5.63 |
|
Southern Vermont College |
VT |
102,944 |
5,818 |
5.65 |
|
All-State Career School |
MD |
32,341 |
1,834 |
5.67 |
|
Davis College |
OH |
30,000 |
1,714 |
5.71 |
|
Parks College |
CO |
123,100 |
7,034 |
5.71 |
|
Saginaw Valley State University |
MI |
282,330 |
16,197 |
5.74 |
|
Art Center Design College (The) |
AZ |
89,062 |
5,118 |
5.75 |
|
Sanford-Brown Institute |
TX |
77,294 |
4,458 |
5.77 |
|
Elizabeth City State University |
NC |
362,889 |
21,074 |
5.81 |
|
Career Colleges of America |
CA |
52,635 |
3,071 |
5.83 |
|
Webster University |
MO |
614,716 |
35,890 |
5.84 |
|
Sanford-Brown Institute |
GA |
419,332 |
24,549 |
5.85 |
|
All-State Career School |
PA |
36,597 |
2,148 |
5.87 |
|
Border Institute of Technology |
TX |
35,751 |
2,100 |
5.87 |
|
Martin University |
IN |
77,511 |
4,562 |
5.89 |
|
Art Institute of California — San Diego |
CA |
115,298 |
6,794 |
5.89 |
|
SUNY College of Technology at Canton |
NY |
171,765 |
10,124 |
5.89 |
|
Life University |
GA |
300,206 |
17,757 |
5.91 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
40,915 |
2,423 |
5.92 |
|
Everest College |
CA |
15,809 |
944 |
5.97 |
|
Pittsburgh Technical Institute |
PA |
181,780 |
10,887 |
5.99 |
|
Olympia Career Training Institute |
MI |
62,608 |
3,751 |
5.99 |
|
North-West College |
CA |
8,749 |
525 |
6.00 |
|
Western School of Health & Business Careers |
PA |
85,401 |
5,179 |
6.06 |
|
Centenary College of Louisiana |
LA |
142,182 |
8,625 |
6.07 |
|
Community College of Denver |
CO |
272,591 |
16,550 |
6.07 |
|
Georgia Medical Institute |
GA |
85,399 |
5,196 |
6.08 |
|
Gibbs College |
NJ |
201,768 |
12,358 |
6.12 |
|
ATI Career Training Center |
TX |
44,600 |
2,748 |
6.16 |
|
Dover Business College |
NJ |
22,961 |
1,419 |
6.18 |
|
Kettering College of Medical Arts |
OH |
38,754 |
2,408 |
6.21 |
|
Nashville State Technical Community College |
TN |
78,963 |
4,908 |
6.22 |
|
International Institute of the Americas |
AZ |
100,000 |
6,235 |
6.24 |
|
Central Oklahoma Area Vocational-Technical School District No. 3 |
OK |
5,994 |
374 |
6.24 |
|
Pyramid Career Institute |
IL |
4,915 |
308 |
6.27 |
|
Baptist University of the Americas |
TX |
5,623 |
354 |
6.30 |
|
Kansas City Art Institute |
MO |
89,969 |
5,679 |
6.31 |
|
Barton College |
NC |
209,392 |
13,315 |
6.36 |
|
Manhattanville College |
NY |
238,692 |
15,210 |
6.37 |
|
University of Texas at Dallas |
TX |
461,240 |
29,666 |
6.43 |
|
University of South Carolina Upstate |
SC |
200,000 |
12,891 |
6.45 |
|
Little Big Horn College |
MT |
20,000 |
1,297 |
6.49 |
|
School of Automotive Machinists |
TX |
8,446 |
550 |
6.51 |
|
Virginia College of Birmingham |
AL |
671,883 |
43,930 |
6.54 |
|
University of Central Oklahoma |
OK |
438,185 |
28,774 |
6.57 |
|
Daytona Beach Community College |
FL |
304,969 |
20,124 |
6.60 |
|
City Colleges of Chicago System Office |
IL |
2,104,974 |
139,844 |
6.64 |
|
Asbury Theological Seminary |
KY |
141,106 |
9,425 |
6.68 |
|
El Paso Community College |
TX |
1,031,212 |
68,967 |
6.69 |
|
Franciscan University of Steubenville |
OH |
135,855 |
9,179 |
6.76 |
|
Florida Metropolitan University |
FL |
148,388 |
10,066 |
6.78 |
|
Luther Rice Seminary |
GA |
20,468 |
1,390 |
6.79 |
|
Drury University |
MO |
253,023 |
17,200 |
6.80 |
|
Art Center College of Design |
CA |
373,744 |
25,614 |
6.85 |
|
Southeastern Oklahoma State University |
OK |
256,509 |
17,601 |
6.86 |
|
College of Visual Arts |
MN |
27,096 |
1,860 |
6.86 |
|
Northwestern State University |
LA |
288,356 |
19,885 |
6.90 |
|
Wilberforce University |
OH |
1,425,055 |
98,314 |
6.90 |
|
Upper Iowa University |
IA |
332,158 |
22,989 |
6.92 |
|
College of the Holy Cross |
MA |
640,478 |
44,496 |
6.95 |
|
Gulf Coast College |
FL |
13,874 |
966 |
6.96 |
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Comments
Deflecting responsibility
I hope that the colleges on this list wont act like the previous commenter and blame the program rather then themselves. There are 300 colleges on here, that means thousands of colleges are in compliance.
It is a poor excuse to say the community service jobs are in locations our students cant get to. The college could set up a program that includes transportation, it could include work study students and volunteers. I bet the work study students would end up volunteering time beyond the time they would get paid.
And to excuse the colleges who recieve so little money that meeting the 7% would require them to set up a program covering only “$100″ is lame. THe 7% is just a minimum, an entire work study program could be set up for community service. Or set up just one student in community sevice and you cover your obligation. This would be a lot better then paying students to be parking lot attendants which I suspect a lot of work study money goes to. These are dollars all taxpayers contributed, to ask colleges to make sure some is spent on public service rather then menial campus jobs is absolutely appropriate.
Dan, at 9:50 am EDT on October 11, 2007
College work study and community service
Being part of a small community hospital, we have little difficulty meeting the 7% standard for community service. However, I can see how many small schools like us in rural areas, or in specialized areas of training would have problems. I think a decent alternative would be to limit this requiremnent along with the reading and math tutoring regulations to schools with college work study grants in excess of $50,000 or $100,000...any lower, and the administrative cost of running the service program could well exceed the CWS funds that such students receive.
feudi pandola, at 9:50 am EDT on October 11, 2007
At Rhodes, “high need” students “don’t have transportation to go off campus” to the heart of downtown Memphis, where most of the community service jobs are
Our motor pool office is in the security office, so there’s always someone there. Students who need transport to community service jobs call the motor pool who arrange for a car to take them down and someone to pick them up. While it may cost a little money, I suppose, wealthy institutions like Rhodes should find it worth the cost.
Lori, assoc. prof., at 10:10 am EDT on October 11, 2007
Disgusted
These numbers stagger the imagination. You have schools, some of which claim to be “socially responsible” and receiving in some cases more than $100,000 in funds, and they do nothing for community service? That is just sickening.
How hard is it to arrange it so students can work for a volunteer fire department? Or a hospital? Or a homeless shelter or food pantry or low income school or a library...shall I go on? Career service departments set up partnerships all the time. Setting up work study programs for the community isn’t exactly a tough sell.
kgotthardt, at 11:50 am EDT on October 11, 2007
There is absolutely no excuse to receive federal funds and not comply by it’s regs.
If you don’t need the money then please send it back there are others who need it. PERIOD!
Why is it that all they get is a dear colleague letter? These institutions should be put on probation immediately.
Nedi Goga, at 1:50 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
I noticed there were a handful of schools with zero work-study allocation. Yet they are on the list for spending zero funds — and zero percent on community service. Somehow it doesn’t seem right that they should receive a you’ve-been-bad letter.
RC, at 1:50 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
Additional Comments
A couple of additional comments. It’s not the Dept of Ed’s fault that schools don’t meet 7%; my point is that they could have been more proactive in their workshops and publications over the past 15 years that community service has been in place. I wish they were and I’ll bet other schools do too (we’re among the 2700+ schools that are over the 7%, just for the record—90% are well within or over compliance.). How many of you have attended a conference session put on by the Dept of Ed about FWSP spending or community service in the last 10 years? When ACG/SMART Grants came out, you could attend a session a week if you wanted to. I’m asking for more attention in general to be paid to FWSP administration before we go cutting all federal funding to schools. I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Secondly, the requirement is 7%; many of these schools are near 7% and I don’t think they should be penalized if they’re close. Subtract out the number of institutions who are over 6% and concentrate on those with larger FWSP’s who haven’t done anything, not schools who have tried. The FWSP accounting is way more demanding than any other financial aid program and I think that needs some recognition. (Dan, I don’t think you run an FWSP—like so many of the people who criticise those who do it— because parking lot attendents are not what most, if any, students are doing; and even students in community service may be doing the exact same office type work they’d be doing on campus.) Last, if community service is so important, why are only FWSP students required to do it? Why does the FWSP have to meet the community service requirements of a college? I’m not anti-community service. I just think that the hysteria that surrounds this topic whenever it comes up needs a little toning down and perspective.
Annmarie, at 1:55 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
Out of Focus
Annmarie is 100% on target with her comments. Every time a federal program is revised or created, I want to know if the revisions (or program as a whole) benefit students, or if the revisions cause administrators to spend countless hours overseeing the regulations. From my vantage point as a financial aid counselor of many years, the Dept. of Ed has lost the focus of helping students obtain degrees.
The suggestion that putting colleges who are not meeting the 7% minimum for fed work study on probation immediately is riciculous. What benefit does that serve? And who will it hurt? Obviously it hurts students.
I have yet to observe any changes to federal aid in the past year that truly are miraculous- schools cannot find SMART recipients etc... and this is what administrators have to waste time on when they would certainly rather work with their colleagues creating great off campus work study programs.
Carly, at 5:55 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
Community Service
Again the Feds try to use social programs to legislate behaviour. We want people to volunteer to help communities so the Feds decide we should force schools to set up programs so we can pay students to volunteer?
Doug, at 8:50 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
Uh, what kind of transportation do you need?
Suggestion: on-line tutoring is an ever growing segment of the education industry. Students could produce iTunes U tutoring, YouTube segments, real time chat, message boards, reading/listening partners, unimaginable possibilities here. The university which first secures a grant to develop something can offer services to the others that need the community service hours. With a little creativity this problem could be leveraged into a great opportunity to increase funding.
Randy, at 8:50 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
Legislating Behavior?
Doug, the tax payers pay for financial aid in the form of work study programs. What is so terrible about giving some of that back TO the tax payers via service while teaching students the value of contributing to community as they gain work related skills? It’s a win-win all around if it’s done correctly.
kgotthardt, at 10:25 pm EDT on October 11, 2007
You can’t legislate interest
A lot of students just aren’t interested in community service jobs, and a lot of community services aren’t interested in what they see as spoiled college students getting paid to do what the rest of their workforce does on a volunteer basis. I worked at a school that was trying to work with public schools, libraries, etc, to provide services we agreed they needed (setting up computer networks, etc), and the few students who were interested in doing it were met with hostility from the people they were there to help.
I have always said that if Congress would like to see students doing community service, there are better ways to do it. Make FWS non need-based for community service, that way anyone who was interested could participate even if they didn’t qualify for aid. Give schools incentives or rewards, such as a waiver of the institutional capital contribution for FWS or at least the community service dollars spent. Acknowledge other non-FWS community services the school provides. But making this mandatory...to me, it’s amazing that only 10% of the schools nationwide aren’t in compliance.
DS, at 9:10 am EDT on October 12, 2007
I don’t think it’s amazing that only 10% of the school are not in compliance. It’s not a hard reg to comply with!
If an outside organization doesn’t want college kids to help with programs, there are so many other places that would be thrilled to have the help. If students “are not interested,” have them work in their fields but in a needy sector. And there is nothing saying the University can’t set the program up right there on campus! Or how about online?
No, schools in the 10% that are complaining are making excuses. They just don’t see it as a priority, obviously.
kgotthardt, at 4:20 pm EDT on October 12, 2007
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A couple of things. First, look at the allocations for most of these colleges. In many instances, you would have to set up a program to spend less than $100. Secondly, has the Dept of Ed done many sessions on FWSP and/or community service lately because if they have, I haven’t seen them. It’s still the reg and you still have to follow it but many of the problems that schools originally had with community service still exist and the Dept of Ed has done little in support of information or training on this. Another social program stuck in the middle of funding for need based aid.
Annmarie, at 9:10 am EDT on October 11, 2007