Volunteer hours add up. According to an annual study by Campus Compact, students at the coalition's nearly 1,000 member schools contributed an estimated $5.6 billion worth of service to their communities. Based at Brown University, Campus Compact is a national organization dedicated to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Students at Campus Compact's 975 member schools contributed an estimated $5.6 billion in service to their communities during the 2004-2005 academic year, according to the organization's annual member survey.

This figure marks a significant increase from last year's findings of $4.45 billion. An increase in average hours of service per week and the proliferation of member schools are changing factors. Member schools report that approximately 30 percent of their students participate in service, and that each student spends an average 5 hours per week on service-related activities.

"Campus Compact has built a strong foundation of member schools and state offices and together, we have changed the way higher education interacts with the community," says Elizabeth Hollander, Executive Director of Campus Compact. "Engagement is now embedded on campuses at a deeper level than ever before, and it is directly attributable to our forward-thinking college and university leaders."

Other key findings from the survey include:

• 98 percent of responding campuses offer courses that incorporate a service component; an average of 27 faculty members per campus taught service-learning courses, up from 22 in 2002.

• 85 percent of institutions reward community-based research or service-learning in faculty review, tenure, and/or promotions, up from 83 percent in 2004.

• 86 percent of schools report having an office or center dedicated to coordinating service, service-learning, and/or civic engagement activities and programs; 14 percent of these offices have an endowment to ensure sustained support.

Campus Compact is continuing to proliferate adoption of community engagement and service-learning curricula on campus, and the number of engaged campuses increases each year. Institutions of higher education report that 91 percent have included service/civic engagement in their mission statement, and 83 percent have included it in their strategic plan. Also up from last year is the percentage of institutions that include community-based research or service in faculty review, tenure, or promotions.

Campus Compact

An independent, nonprofit association under the umbrella of Brown University, Campus Compact is a national coalition of nearly 1,000 college and university presidents—representing some 5 million students—who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building civic engagement into campus and academic life. For more information, visit http://www.compact.org.

Member surveys have been conducted each year since 1987 to assess the current state of campus-based community engagement and to identify emerging trends. This year's data was gathered using an online survey taken by member campuses and covers the 2004-2005 academic year, with approximately half (484 of 975) of member campuses reporting.

Editors: A Campus Compact contact is Karen Partridge at (401) 867-3922. An executive summary and full results of the 2005 Annual Campus Compact Member Survey, as well as results from previous years, are available at http://www.compact.org/about/statistics/2005.

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