Universities Offer Financial Rewards for Student Activists

Students have been pushed for decades to enter college or university straight out of high school, but new initiatives from a number of top-tier institutions are actually giving students financial rewards for putting off college in favor of public service.

Princeton University, for example, kicked off its Bridge Year Program fairly recently. The initiative offers a tuition-free year for students to live internationally with a host family and other Princeton students to expand their global awareness. According to the New York Times, the selected students who are putting off college to be a part of the program for 2009-2010 will be stationed in Ghana, India, Peru, or Serbia.

Other notable institutions that advocate students putting off college in favor of public service are Dickinson College, which offers a $10,000/year credit towards tuition, and AmeriCorps, which offers an AmeriCorps Education Award of $4,725 for a year of volunteer service.