Forty-five colleges and universities in California, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, will be involved in a public service program called “Californians For All College Corps.” Announced by Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, January 18th, this program will help college students who participate in community service with their academics and their tuition costs. 

“Considering how college tuition has been rising in the past couple years, I believe this program will help out low-income students who need money to afford college,” junior Lawrence Du said. “Even though some may be reluctant to pay taxes towards this program, it will also help out the community, which I consider a win-win situation.” 

High school seniors who have mostly already applied to colleges positively describe their thoughts and feelings about this opportunity as they are about to start their college journey. 

“I think this service scholarship is a great opportunity to help students pay for their education,” senior Jasmine Nourisamie said. “We, unfortunately, do not have free college in the United States at the current moment so money like this could really help out low-income students continue into higher education and break cycles of poverty from within their communities.”

For 450 hours of service, students can receive $10,000 toward their education and can also get academic credit for their work, which serves as a huge incentive for many college students.

“Especially as someone who is applying [for] financial aid, I find it really relieving to have extra monetary support,” senior Sophia Wang said.

The launch of this program was inspired by other national service programs dedicated to helping students pay for their expensive collegiate education, such as the AmeriCorps and the GI Bill.  The program’s website lists the comprehensive application process, which will primarily focus on admitting low-income students to ultimately pay for college.

“College tuition [has been] so expensive these past few years, especially when COVID-19 hit and the economy took a downturn,” junior Jerry Jiang said. “This service scholarship opportunity can help low-income students pay for college and continue their education on a higher level.”