Education Award Only General Information
Frequently asked questions about the Education Award Only program | Download Education Award Only paperwork

Education Award Only Information

As an active college student, you are helping to build a better world. Whether you're working on Environmental issues, Education, Public Safety, or Health--you're in the community, and you're helping to change people's lives. We want to support you.

With the Student Service Leadership Corps, you have the chance to earn an Education Award of up to $2632.00 from AmeriCorps, for committing yourself to a certain number of hours--from 300 over a year, up to 900 over two years.

Service Leaders may choose to enroll for any of the following terms of service:

900 hours to be completed in up to 24 months for an ed award of $2362.00
450 hours to be completed in up to 12 months for an Ed award of $1200.00
300 hours to be completed in up to 12 months for an Ed award of $1000.00

What's an Education Award?

An Education Award is a voucher which you can use to pay for college--or to pay off student loans. It can be used at any accredited institution of higher education, and is accepted for all federal stafford loans, and by most banks and loanholders.

What kind of things can I do?

You can do all the things you're already doing! This can include work with service-learning projects, student clubs, internships, or off-campus work-study positions. Here are a few activities that current members are involved with:

From volunteering in an afterschool program, to trail maintenance and restoration, from sitting on a court youth diversion board, to your Alternative Breaks program with Habitat for Humanity, you can do it all!

If you are a student teacher, click here to Learn about our Future Teachers Using Service-Learning AmeirCorps Program

Am I Eligible?

You are eligible!

How do I sign up?

Each campus has a different selection process for their positions. For more information on when an orientation will take place and how to apply on your campus, contact your community service office or the VCC office at 802-443-2511, or sslc@middlebury.edu.
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Education Award Frequently Asked Questions

1) What is the date that the Ed Award term starts?
A: A person's "term of service" starts the day they sign up, and continues for one or two years from that date. To sign up, students must complete an orientation and submit all required paperwork. So if a member were to sign up March 1, 2005 their term would go until February 28, 2006 (or 2007 for the 900 hour Education Award).

2) Can a member apply for 'retro hours'?
A: A member cannot apply for "retro" hours. The term of service on the start date on their application and they can start logging hours after that, but not before.

3) What would happen in the scenario of a student who signed up and didn't complete their hours in the time allowed?
A: A member who doesn't complete their hours is ineligible to receive their award. Furthermore, they may have lost one of the two AmeriCorps awards that they may receive during their lifetime, and if they join any other AmeriCorps Program in the future, they would have to admit that they had joined AmeriCorps previously, and didn't finish, and would have to explain why.

4) What would happen if they signed up for 300 hours and ended up completing 450? For example, would the remaining 150 roll over into a second education award term?
A: Members can change their term of service within the first three months under specific conditions. They can "upgrade" into a slot with more hours provided that are still slots with more hours available. If they get a sudden burst in the last month and accidentally complete 900 hours instead of the 300 they'd signed up for, they would receive a huge pat on the back, honor, and respect for the rest of their lifetime. They would not, unfortunately, be able to receive more than their 300 hour ed award. In order to "downgrade" or decrease their hours, members must provide a reason for why they can not complete their service and show how their service site will not be compromised. For any request, a member must submit a change of term form that is signed by the site supervisor.

5) What if a student's time was split working between two different volunteer opportunities, say, 100 hours at location X and 200 hours at location Y. Could they still receive the ed award for the total 300 hours?
A: Students can volunteer for multiple agencies, as long as the agency is not a for-profit company. Students can also be involved with several different projects for their education award as long as projects fit under at least one of the service areas: human needs, education, public safety, and the environment

5) Ok, the education award is basically for the 'doing' or 'applying' of service learning. For example, hours spent in class learning about poverty and hunger would not apply, but hours spent in a soup kitchen would apply? Do I have that right?
A: An AmeriCorps member can spend up to 20% of their time receiving "training." --this can include time spent in a classroom, if it directly affects their community service efforts (so for instance, a person who is volunteering as a mediator can count their mediation classes, but a person who is volunteering at a soup kitchen cannot count their math classes). But they CANNOT go over 20%. Members must keep track of how many hours they have committed to training, and stop counting training after 60 hours if they are a 300-hour member, etc.

6) Now that the students are actually here, this whole thing is starting to make some sense to me. So all I do is try to recruit people for these Ed Award programs, give them the application, talk to them about what qualifies and what doesn't, and then keep track of their hours, and that's it? So even if a student is getting credit for a service learning type of internship or a work-study position, they can still apply the same hours to an ed award, right?
A: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And absolutely yes.

Questions? Contact VCC office at 802-443-2511, or sslc@middlebury.edu.

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We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and our own.
--Cesar Chavez