The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of low-income college students who participate in community service scholarship programs. By examining the experiences of the participants the existing literature will be enhanced with a grounded theory related to student engagement and civic identity development through involvement in off-campus community service scholarship programs. Various programs exist to alleviate disparities in student retention rates according to social class, while also increasing civic engagement. This study explored how engaging low-income students in scholarship programs with a community service component affected them, and how they perceived such programs as helping them earn a degree. Also, this study considered how students perceive such programs as influential to their commitment to responsible citizenship and participatory democracy. The specific research questions were as follows: What are the experiences of low-income college students who are involved in community service scholarship programs? In what ways, if any, do they perceive such programs as helping them to stay in school? And, in what ways, if any, do such programs influence their perceived ongoing commitment to civic engagement? This qualitative study examined the issue through a critical social theory (CST) lens, and employed a grounded theory research methodology. In order to consider this, the study explored three strands of literature. In Chapter Two, the literature review explores the following: the role financial aid has on student persistence, student engagement as it relates to retention, and finally, civic engagement through service-learning and volunteerism. Higher education's re-commitment to civically engaging students is fairly recent with the advent and growth of service-learning over the last decade. Therefore there is little research and no prominent theories that specifically look at the question of how low- income students are impacted by community service scholarship programs. With that, this research study used a grounded theory methodology in order to develop a substantive theory. The constant comparative method of data analysis was employed, and produced the core concept of "Visioning Civic Identity". From there four components of the core concept emerged as products of a sociological process participants went through during the time in the community service scholarship program. The components include: "Relationships Grown", "Understanding One's Impact", "Career Path Paving", and "Complex Social Issue and Cultural Learning". The core concept and its four components are part of the theory grounded in the data called the Citizen Capital and Civic Identity Development (CCCID) Theory. With the theory established, implications for theory and practice were considered for those in higher education administration research, student affairs practice and public policy related to funding such programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]