Factors associated with college student intent to engage in community service

Many universities in the United States highlight service as an integral component to their mission. Additionally, a growing pedagogical focus highlights the importance of community service as an integral component of student development. The current study was an investigation of the factors associated with college student intentions to engage in volunteer community service. University students (N = 403) at a comprehensive university located in the southern plains completed an anonymous Web-based questionnaire to assess community service attitudes and intentions. Subsequent to testing for statistical assumptions, results from multiple regression analysis suggest that a sense of community connectedness, cost and benefit considerations, and the seriousness of community needs are significant variables in explaining variance in the intent to engage in community service.