Americorps

[Jo185]

Has anyone served for AmeriCorps to help pay for their graduate school tuition. I went to their website to see what they offer but, I am little confused and wanted some feed back on anyone experience if they have serve for AmeriCorps in the past.

[lightballsdeep]

I just finished a year doing Americorps VISTA in 2014. I'm happy to answer your questions.

They give you around $5,000 dollars that can be paid towards loans or qualifying education institutions (read: real ones).  It's pretty straightforward and easy to use, but I don't believe it would pay out to cash in your pocket.  

[Feebee]

I did Americorps, and I was able to use my ed. award towards paying for graduate school. To add to the previous post, the way the funds are dispersed is that you fill out an online form, in which you inform Americorps of the institution to send money to, and request an amount to send. Pretty straightforward- some universities, like mine, charge a processing fee for this though! I believe that the education award is adjusted slightly for inflation from year to year.

[kargigogo]

I completed two terms of service, and received the maximum 2 scholarships ($5500x2). It's obviously not a ton of money, and it can be a big commitment so I would only do AmeriCorps if you're really passionate about service and find the right program for you - it definitely should not about the money alone, cause that stipend is not ton to live off of for a year if you don't like what you're doing. That being said, one bonus is that some schools match fully or partially the amount. You can check out matching schools and programs on their website.