Contemporary college students' apparent lack of exposure to citizenship, lack of concern for others, and ignorance of how to be involved citizens has prompted a call for involving students in volunteer service at the national level or as part of the undergraduate experience. This monograph begins by discussing volunteer programs as they relate to higher education including the role universities have traditionally played, and the involvement of various branches of the university community. A further section treats the characteristics and desires of contemporary college students: their environmental, economic, social, political and financial conditions; lessons of the student activism of the 1960s; and the effects of civic participation. The next section explores the economic, social, and personal aspects of volunteering and philanthropy. National service programs are the subject of the fourth section, which discusses their essential elements, congressional efforts, President Bush's proposal to create some type of volunteer service corps, and the effect of national service on higher education. The next section examines the role and action of higher education in service programs including: curricular changes; service-learning education; work-study programs; collaborative efforts between higher education, government, and the private sector; outreach opportunity leagues; campus compacts; faculty participation; and evaluating the effects of civic participation. An index and a bibliography of 140 references are included. (JB)