College Volunteer Statistics (2026): Participation, Service-Learning Gaps & Volunteer Value
Verified college volunteering statistics for 2026, from AmeriCorps, Census, and university research, with charts and screening guidance for nonprofit and church leaders.
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College students are one of the most flexible volunteer pools a nonprofit or church can tap, but their participation is uneven and their turnover is high. This report pulls together the best-available federal, university, and benchmark figures on who volunteers, how much time they give, and what that labor is worth. It is part of our volunteer demographics statistics hub, where we track the broader picture across age groups, sectors, and program types.
Key takeaways
The national rebound: formal volunteering is climbing again
The national picture improved sharply after the pandemic. AmeriCorps reports that more than 75.7 million people, or 28.3 percent of Americans, formally volunteered in 2023, contributing more than 4.99 billion hours with an estimated $167.2 billion in economic value. Formal volunteering rose 5.1 percentage points between 2022 and 2023, which AmeriCorps described as the largest expansion it has recorded. NonProfit PRO summarized the survey results, and the 2021 low of 23.2 percent was the lowest level in nearly two decades according to a secondary summary of Census and AmeriCorps data.
The survey also added a first-ever measure of virtual volunteering. Most formal volunteers, 82 percent, served entirely in person, averaging 64 hours between September 2022 and September 2023. Over 13.4 million served virtually or in hybrid roles and averaged 95 hours in that period.
College students: a steady but stalled participation rate
College students have long volunteered at rates close to the general adult population, but the gap has not widened. A Corporation for National and Community Service analysis found that in 2005, about 30.2 percent of college students volunteered, compared with 28.8 percent of adults, and the number of student volunteers had grown about 20 percent from 2002 to 2005. Tutoring and mentoring were the most common activities. The University of Maryland's Do Good Institute later reported that the college rate had fallen to 26.1 percent in 2013–2015, with roughly 3.1 million college students giving about 331 million hours a year.
Perhaps most surprising, the Do Good Institute found that college students volunteered less often than high school students over the 2002–2015 window, even though they are older, better educated, and more affluent. The same brief found that the college rate had not changed significantly since 2008.
Who volunteers: age, gender and the early-20s dip
Age is one of the sharpest dividing lines. AmeriCorps' 2023 data shows that people ages 16–17 had the highest formal volunteering rate at 34.1 percent, while VolunteerBadge's age-band analysis of the Census and AmeriCorps Civic Engagement and Volunteering data places the 20–24 band at 18.4 percent, the lowest of the adult groups. That drop is the window when many students leave campus, start jobs, and stop volunteering through school-linked channels.
Gender also matters. According to a USAFacts summary of AmeriCorps data, women formally volunteered at 30.9 percent versus 25.6 percent for men, although informal helping rates were nearly identical.
Service-learning and campus requirements
Much of college volunteering is driven by courses rather than individual choice. A National Survey of Student Engagement summary reports that 10 percent of first-year students frequently take part in service-learning or community-based projects, while 74 percent never do. By senior year, the same summary reports that 79 percent of students have participated in community service or volunteer work. The implication for program leaders is that most of the volunteering happens after students arrive, not at orientation.
Earlier research on youth points the same way. A Corporation for National and Community Service survey of youth found that 38 percent of young people reported community service tied to a school activity or requirement, but only about 10 percent of school-based service met all three quality elements in the study's definition of service-learning.
State variation: where college volunteering is strongest
College volunteering varies widely by place. Between 2012 and 2015, college volunteer rates ranged from 18.4 percent in Arkansas to 45.9 percent in Wyoming. A campus recruiting in a low-rate state may need a different pipeline, such as service-learning partnerships, than one in a high-rate state. Pair state trends with your own campus data before setting goals.
What volunteer time is worth
Independent Sector and the Do Good Institute estimate the value of a volunteer hour at $36.14 for 2025, a 3.9 percent increase, using preliminary data. The same estimate was $34.79 for 2024, and the increase exceeded that year's inflation rate of 2.9 percent. State values vary widely, from $17.99 in Puerto Rico to $54.77 in the District of Columbia.
Use the figure carefully. The estimate is a replacement-cost measure, and Independent Sector cautions that it is not a precise price for each role. It also cannot be deducted by the volunteer, since the IRS does not allow a deduction for donated time.
