USAC and Center for Community Learning expand credit programs to give units for volunteering, community service

Students who volunteer will have the option to receive credit for service beginning winter quarter.

The expansion to existing credit programs is part of a joint initiative by the Center for Community Learning and the Undergraduate Students Association Council.

The Center for Community Learning previously offered internship programs and service learning classes, but did not allow volunteering to count for credit in the same way.

“We want to encourage students to get more involved and help those already helping,” said Raquel Saxe, academic affairs commissioner for USAC who is coordinating with other councilmembers and the Center for Community Learning to organize and promote the program.

USAC wanted to work with the existing internship program the Center for Community Learning has in place, Saxe said. The center offers lower division and upper division internship courses with an academic component and research component, in addition to work off-campus.

Using the same structure, students will have the option to receive units for volunteer work.

“We reach out to students who are passionate, (try to) support that passion and bring it into undergraduate education,” said Kathy O’Byrne, director of the Center for Community Learning.

Students can sign up for periods of time as short as one quarter and up to two years, and can receive not only credit but also scholarships, she said.

The program will offer two to four units of credit toward subjects ranging from Economics to the Civic Engagement minor.

The only requirement of the program is that the student volunteers off-site, O’Byrne said.

Students usually volunteer with an outside organization, but the Center for Community Learning has also collaborated with student groups that work off-campus, O’Byrne said. Organizations that students want to volunteer for must be approved by the university to make sure they are safe and provide a good experience for its volunteers, she added.

Third-year anthropology student Kanwal Ali, who volunteers frequently, said she supports the idea of students receiving credit for volunteering.

Ali said she often finds herself spending more time working on her volunteer work as CEO of UCLA’s Fellowship for International Service and Health than on her academic coursework.

Ali said students who volunteer do not do so to receive credit, but offering credit can help to motivate students to continue serving.