20 U.S.C. § 1087–51 — Purpose; appropriations authorized

(a) Purpose. This part promotes part-time employment for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who need employment earnings to pursue courses at eligible institutions. It also encourages students receiving Federal student aid to take part in community-service activities that benefit the Nation and develop a sense of social responsibility and commitment to the community.

(b) Authorization of appropriations. Congress may appropriate whatever amounts are needed to carry out this part for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five following fiscal years.

(c) “Community services” defined. For this part, “community services” means services that an institution of higher education^* identifies, after formal or informal consultation with local nonprofit, government, and community-based organizations, as intended to improve community residents’ quality of life—especially for low-income people—or solve particular problems related to their needs. They include: (1) fields such as health care, child care (including on-campus child care open and accessible to the community), literacy training, education including tutoring, welfare, social services, transportation, housing and neighborhood improvement, public safety, emergency preparedness and response, crime prevention and control, recreation, rural development, and community improvement; (2) work in a project as defined in section 12511(20) of title 42; (3) support services for students with disabilities, including disabled students enrolled at the institution; and (4) activities in which a student is a mentor for: (A) tutoring; (B) supporting educational and recreational activities; or (C) counseling, including career counseling.