Americorps
The AmeriCorps Education Award Program
After successfully completing a one year term of service, AmeriCorps members are eligible to receive an education award. The education award can be used to pay education costs at qualified institutions of higher education or training, or to repay qualified student loans. The award is currently $1,000 for a year of reduced part-time service-300 hours. A member has up to seven years after his or her term of service has ended to claim the award.
What is the purpose of the AmeriCorps Education Awards Program?
The purpose of the AmeriCorps Program is four-fold:
- To expand opportunities for individuals to serve their communities as AmeriCorps members and earn educational benefits.
- To increase the number of communities across the country where AmeriCorps members are helping to meet local needs.
- To broaden the network of national service program sponsors and strategies.
- To encourage new non-federal resources to support service programs.
What can the education award be used for?
You can use your education award in the following ways, or a combination of them:
- to repay qualified existing or future student loans;
- to pay all or part of the current education expenses to attend a qualified institution of higher education; or
- to pay expenses while participating in an approved school-to-work program.
How many education awards can you receive?
Up to two. You can receive an award for your first two terms of service. If you end a term of service early, you will not be eligible for an award.
What types of loans can the education award repay?
Most postsecondary loans that are backed by the federal government are qualified for repayment with an AmeriCorps education award. Also, loans that are made by state agencies, including state colleges and universities are now qualified. Your lender should be able to tell you if your loan is qualified. Qualified loans include:
- Stafford Loans
- Perkins Loans
- William D. Ford Direct Loans
- Federal Consolidated Loans
- Supplemental Loans for Students
- Primary Care Loans
- Nursing Student Loans
- Health Education Assistance Loans
- Loans issued to AmeriCorps members by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education
When can you use your education award?
You can use your education award any time after you receive your voucher -- up to seven years after the date you end your service. You can apply for an extension if:
- you are unable to use the award for some reason during that time; or
- you perform another term of service in an approved program.
Where can you get involved as an AmeriCorps member?
- Community Development
- Children/Youth
- Disaster Relief
- Education
- Elder Care
- Environment
- Health
- Hunger
- Hurricane Katrina
- Homelessness
Community Service Work-Study Program
Most students who have a community service federal work-study position can count the hours they work towards both their work-study award and their AmeriCorps Education Award. For example, if a student gets a community service federal work-study job at non-profit organization and works there in order to earn their federal work-study award, then the hours put in at this organization could be counted as AmeriCorps hours as well. In this manner, the student is receiving an extra bonus for the hours they are already working by receiving money for college (the AmeriCorps Education Award) on top of their federal work-study allotment.
If you do not finish all your AmeriCorps hours through your community service work-study position, you can volunteer at almost any non-profit organization with the approval of the program director.
I'm interested in AmeriCorps Educational Award program. What should I do next?
If you are interested, please contact Urszula Zalewski at the Career Center. Email: uzalewski@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
You can also access the application by clicking on this link: Americorps Application [DOC] [PDF]
The AmeriCorps*VISTA Program
AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations, and public agencies to create and expand programs that bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty.
AmeriCorps*VISTA members leverage human, financial, and material resources to increase the capacity of thousands of low-income areas across the country to address challenges and improve their lives and communities.
VISTA members commit to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, and much more.
The Stony Brook VISTA Coordinator works to expand community service and service-learning initiatives. The VISTA Coordinator assists in organizing service activities for students and faculty, forging community-university partnerships, and helps to promote and facilitate those activities as needed. S/he also assists faculty in developing the service-learning components of curriculum. For more information about AmeriCorps VISTA, please go to the New York Campus Compact at http://nycc.cornell.edu/vista/index.php or AmeriCorps VISTA at http://www.americorps.org/for_individuals/choose/vista.asp .
If you would like to be involved in the SB VISTA Program, please contact: Taryn Kutujian at Taryn.Kutujian@stonybrook.edu
Want to be a Mentor?
The Stony Brook VISTA Program can connect you to mentoring programs throughout the Long Island and NYC area. We work with organizations like the Comsewogue Youth Club, EAC Chance to Advance, and others in need of Stony Brook mentors. We'd love to connect you to the mentoring program that suits your interests and time constraints. Interested? Please fill out an application (DOC / PDF) and submit it to the Career Center.
