I'm an AmeriCorps VISTA, which is a little different, program-wise. Instead of doing direct service (like helping build homes or mentoring or something like that) it's more about building programs. Anyway, I'm a VISTA with a program called Illinois Campus Compact. There are Campus Compact programs in many states, and the idea is to encourage service on college campuses. I'm not going to state where I was placed here for privacy purposes. At my campus, I'm working to build and sustain our service days (where students spend a day doing direct service at community non-profits all around the city) as well as as making the experiential learning office here more sustainable. Basically I'm meant to work myself out of a job, so that the next VISTA can start on entirely new projects.

So far it's enjoyable and I know it's going to be a good experience that looks great on my resume. I started off kind of frustrated because what I was meant to do here wasn't very clear, and on top of that getting re-adjusted to academic lingo took some time. I'm still not sure how my whole year of service will look, but I know what I'm doing for the meantime, and that's fine. One particularly great thing in my opinion is that my supervisor thinks that my own professional development is very important, and has me set aside anywhere from an hour to a day a week for any kind of professional development (training, volunteer work, whatever) that I might be interested in.

Pay is, of course, not very much at all. VISTAs recently got a raise to our monthly stipend, so it's now $977 a month prior to taxes. I'm lucky in that my campus covers my public transportation costs and puts me on a meal plan for lunch, so I don't have to worry about those expenses. I'm waiting to hear back about my applications for food stamps, contraceptive coverage and state medical aid, because they are helpful if not necessary to make up for getting such a small stipend. The up-side is that it's supposedly easier to get a yes on these applications because since AmeriCorps members are technically volunteers and not employees, such programs are ordered to disregard our income. Hopefully I'll get accepted into all the programs.

Now, the downsides. Other than the low stipend, which I think I can manage even if I do (knock on wood that this doesn't happen) get rejected for state aid, I can think of a couple:

1. The $$4,725 education award and the automatic forbearance on student loan payments are useless to me, because my loans are private and not federal. Both my loan holders rejected my forbearance request, so my only option is to apply for income sensitive repayment plans or economic hardship forbearance and hope they accept one of those. Generally private loan holders do not let you use the education award to pay off loans, but apparently I MIGHT be able to work with them. If I can't, my only option is to keep the $4,725 education award and use it towards classes I might take in the future, or take the much smaller $1,200 addition to my stipend.

2. The health insurance sucks. In fact, it is not actually classified as health insurance, it's a "benefit". There's no dental or eye care coverage, you're only allowed one OB-GYN visit per year, and apparently their network of covered physicians is very small. This is evidenced by the fact that I searched for an optometrist that was covered and there were only two in the entire Chicago metropolitan area. On top of that I've heard lots of horror stories of people having claims rejected or misfiled and ending up with huge bills they cannot cover. I'm hoping I get state aid so that I can either waive the health benefit or use it as back-up insurance. I was hopeful that the clause they have about eye care (wherein if something is either causing you pain or makes it impossible for you to work they'll cover it) would be a loop-hole for me, as without my contact lenses I can't see well enough to even get to work, let enough get any work done, but apparently that only applies if something happens at the office. They have your supervisor sign a document to prove that an incident happened at the office, so I'm tempted to ask my supervisor to just say my contact tore in office or something. Regardless, I need to get contacts SOON as I'm on my last pair, so I might just have to suck it up and try and find a doctor that will see me for cheap or on a sliding scale.

That's all I can think of so far. If anyone has other questions, though, feel free to ask!