Benefits? (Scott)

Quite a few people have asked me if there are any tangible benefits to serving in the Peace Corps. I came across this in our "toolkit" the other day. It's a bit beefy, but there's some good info:

Prepare Your Friends and Family

Benefits of Volunteering

The Peace Corps is a challenging opportunity that offers Americans of every background enormous rewards. Should your family member become a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will be proud of his or her two years spent helping others. But for all the giving they do, it's important to know that Peace Corps Volunteers are also opening worlds of opportunity for themselves.

Serving in the Peace Corps gives Volunteers the chance to learn a new language, live in another culture, and develop career and leadership skills.

The Peace Corps experience can enhance long-term career prospects, whether a Volunteer wants to work for a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The Peace Corps can even open doors to graduate school.

For your son, daughter, sister, brother, or parent to venture to a far-away place for two years where they don't know anyone can be a cause for concern. Some people, who may have worked hard to get a child through college or struggled to bring children to the United States in search of economic opportunity, may feel disappointed when a son or daughter does not take a high-paying job right after graduation. Others might think that Americans should help improve the quality of life in their own community here at home.

The following information will help you learn more about the professional, educational, and financial benefits of service that await someone as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

PROFESSIONAL

The benefits of Peace Corps service last a lifetime, but you will start noticing them as soon as a Peace Corps Volunteer returns home. In today's global marketplace, fluency in foreign languages, international experience, and cross-cultural understanding are highly sought-after assets in many sectors of our increasingly global economy. The first three months of service in the Peace Corps provide cross-cultural, technical, and language training to help Volunteers integrate into their new overseas communities.

In addition:

• The Peace Corps' Office of Returned Volunteer Services (RVS) provides career, educational, and re-entry related assistance through its 11 regional recruiting offices and its Career Center in Washington, DC.
• Returned Volunteers have non-competitive eligibility status for appointments to U.S. government executive branch agencies for one year after their completion of service. This means that you can be appointed to some federal government positions without competing with the general public.
• Once you arrive in your country of service, you will receive intensive language instruction. Some Volunteers become fluent in more than one language.
• Volunteers develop the ability to adapt to, and participate successfully in, the culture of the community in which they live and work. These skills are transferable to any culture as well as to new professional and social settings back home.

EDUCATIONAL

• The Peace Corps offers two innovative programs to Peace Corps Volunteers: Masters International and Fellows/USA.
• The Master's International Program allows you to incorporate Peace Corps service into master's degree programs at more than 40 colleges and universities.
• The Fellows/USA Program offers Volunteers who have returned home scholarships or reduced tuition in advanced degree programs at more than 25 participating colleges and universities. In return for these educational benefits, Fellows commit to work for two years in an underserved community as they pursue their graduate degree.

Additionally, Peace Corps Volunteers may apply for partial deferment of many loans and up to 15% cancellation of Perkins loans.

FINANCIAL

Among other financial benefits, the Peace Corps offers:

• A monthly living allowance to cover your housing and other basic needs
• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, including annual exams and coverage for both service and non-service-related illnesses or injuries
• $6,075 after the completion of three months of training and two years of Volunteer service
• A reasonably priced health insurance plan available after the completion of Volunteer service for up to 18 months
• 24 vacation days per year