The 40 hour service requirement can be met through any means the student chooses, but it must be in the form of service for the university or civic community. Students may also choose to volunteer in their hometown during one of the University's academic breaks, including spring/summer terms. Service hours associated with course credit or compensation cannot be counted toward the requirement. There are three different classifications of volunteering to consider when deciding how to utilize the time:

Direct Service: working directly with community members or those being served.

• Tutoring/Mentoring children within the community
• Assisting the elderly
• Volunteering at shelters for the homeless
• Visiting hospitals
• Helping out at community centers

Indirect Service: working on a project which impacts the community in an ancillary way.

• Volunteering for disaster relief or clean-up
• Assisting with environmentally focused projects
• Participating in urban renewal projects (community painting, building, etc.)
• Helping with UM student organization fundraising
• Organizing a community food drive

Advocacy Service: working for the alleviation of a community issue (homelessness, nonviolence, etc.)

• Conducting information campaigns
• Helping with voter registration drives
• Lobbying or speaking on behalf of a community issue
• Reporting Volunteering Hours
  

At the end of both the fall and winter terms, an e-mail will be sent out to scholarship students. Students will be asked to reply with the number of hours volunteered, for what group or organization the service was performed and a contact name and number for each.
If you have any questions, please contact Laura Mayers in the Scholarship Office at lmayers@umich.edu.

Students who are unable to complete the scholarship service requirement during a term or academic year due to unforeseen circumstances can apply for a waiver.  Examples may include a demanding work schedule, semester or academic yearlong study abroad, unexpected personal or family emergencies, or personal medical reasons. To request an appeal please contact the Scholarship Manager, Douglas Fletcher, at douglasf@umich.edu.

Take a moment and consider your own personal skill set. Think of ways you could best use utilize your own strengths to benefit the surrounding community. Do you like to spend one-on-one time with people or are you more likely to spend time behind the scenes? Are you good with computers? Donate your time to help a community organization develop a website. Part of a performance group? Organize a performance at a local retirement or senior outreach center. Once you have declared your major, consider ways of using the service requirement to gain experience in the field by volunteering for groups involved in your area of study. Or, take it as a chance to become involved in an organization or cause you might not have otherwise considered.

Listed below are a variety of resources to help students discover ways to utilize their volunteer service requirement:

Appreciate + Reciprocate

Appreciate + Reciprocate (formerly The Society of LSA Scholars) is a volunteer organization created by students who are recipients of scholarships from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. They work to bring together students from all parts of campus in ways that benefit the university community by organizing fundraisers, volunteer work, and social events.

If you are interested in volunteering for A+R events or would like to learn more about joining the society, please contact appreciate@umich.edu or visit their website here.  You can also see their promotional video here.

Students Promoting Financial Literacy

Students Promoting Financial Literacy is a recently established student group interested in educating college students about the importance of being financially savvy.  Through a partnership with the Office of Financial Aid, Students Promoting Financial Literacy will be utilizing CashCourse to help spread financial literacy.  For more information about the group and volunteering opportunities, please contact Abbie Hawley (abhawley@umich.edu).

University of Michigan Ginsberg Center

The Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning offers a range of programs students can participate in which are geared toward strengthening community service learning within the University of Michigan society. The six main programs of the Ginsberg Center are the America Reads Tutoring Corps, the Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership, Interfaith Action, Project Community, SERVE and Semester in Detroit. Only the hours spent in actual service will count towards fulfilling the requirement; coursework and lectures taken through the Ginsberg Center do not count. For more information about these programs, visit the Ginsberg Center website here.

SERVE Programs
SERVE is a student run program through the Ginsberg Center that works to provide students with opportunities to address serious social issues through community service and social action. SERVE programs include:

• Alternate Spring Break (ASB)
• Alternative Weekends (AW)
• North American Summer Service Team(NASST)
• Pangea World Service Team (PWST)
• Volunteers Involved Every Week (VIEW)

Each of the SERVE programs requires different levels of participation throughout the academic year. Students electing to participate in any of the SERVE programs through the Ginsberg Center should be aware of any program costs for travel associated with the program.

At this time, the College of LSA Scholarship Office cannot offer funding for the ASB, AW, or NASST programs. Please see the program websites for more information regarding fee-waivers and scholarships available through the Ginsberg Center.

Opportunities in the Ann Arbor and surrounding communities:

For a list of service and community outreach programs organized by departments across the University of Michigan, please visit http://ginsberg.umich.edu/students/service-opportunities.

For a list of UM student organizations aimed at promoting volunteering and service learning, please visit http://studentorgs.umich.edu/maize/service.