Part B - University Year for VISTA

42 USC 4971 - Congressional statement of purpose

(a) The purpose of this part is to assist students, through service-learning and community service programs, to undertake volunteer service in such a way as to enhance the educational value of the service experience, through participation in activities that strengthen and supplement efforts to eliminate and alleviate poverty and poverty-related problems. Its purpose further is to provide technical assistance and training to encourage other students and faculty to engage in volunteer service on a part-time, self-supporting basis, to meet the needs of the poor in the surrounding community through expansion of service-learning and community service programs and otherwise.
(b) This part provides for the University Year for VISTA (UYV) program of full-time volunteer service by students enrolled in institutions of higher education. The purpose of the UYV program is to strengthen and supplement efforts to eliminate poverty and poverty-related human, social, and environmental problems by enabling students at cooperating institutions to perform meaningful and constructive volunteer service in connection with the satisfaction of course-work while attending such institutions. Volunteer service under this part is conducted in agencies, institutions, and situations where the application of human talent and dedication may assist in the solution of poverty and poverty-related problems and secure and exploit opportunities for self-advancement by individuals experiencing such problems.

42 USC 4972 - Authority to operate University Year for VISTA program

Except as otherwise provided in this part, the Director is authorized to conduct or make grants and contracts for, or both, programs to carry out the purposes of this part in accordance with the authorities and subject to the restrictions in the provisions of part A of this subchapter, except for the provisions of sections 4953 (f)1 and 4954 (d) of this title, and except that the Director may, in accordance with regulations the Director shall prescribe, determine to reduce or eliminate the stipend for volunteers serving under this part on the basis of the value of benefits provided such volunteers by the institution in question (including the reduction or waiver of tuition).
[1] See References in Text note below.

42 USC 4973 - Special conditions

(a) Academic credit 
Volunteers serving under this part shall be enrolled for periods of service as provided for in subsection (b) of section 4954 of this title, except that volunteers serving in the University Year for VISTA program may be enrolled for periods of service of not less than the duration of an academic semester or its equivalent, but volunteers enrolled for less than 12 months shall not receive stipends under section 4955 (a)(1) of this title. Volunteers serving under this part may receive academic credit for such service in accordance with the regulations of the sponsoring institution of higher education. Volunteers may receive a living allowance and such other support or allowances as the Director determines to be appropriate.
(b) Participation of student volunteers and educational institutions 
Grants to and contracts with institutions to administer programs under this part shall provide that prospective student volunteers shall participate substantially in the planning of such programs and that such institutions shall make available to the poor in the surrounding community all available facilities, including human resources, of such institutions in order to assist in meeting the needs of such poor persons.
(c) Financial assistance limitation; commitment stipulations; monitoring of compliance with commitment; compliance information to Secretary 

(1) In making grants or contracts for the administration of UYV programs under this part, the Director shall insure that financial assistance under this chapter to programs carried out pursuant to section 4972 of this title shall not exceed 90 per centum of the total cost (including planning costs) of such program during the first year and such amounts less than 90 per centum as the Director, in consultation with the institution, may determine for not more than four additional years, including years in which support was received under title VIII of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2991–2994d). Each such grant or contract shall stipulate that the institution will make every effort to
(A)  assume an increasing proportion of the cost of continuing a program carrying out the purpose of this part while the institution receives support under this part;
(B)  waive or otherwise reduce tuition for participants in such program, where such waiver is not prohibited by law;
(C)  utilize students and faculty at such institution to carry out, on a self-supporting basis, appropriate planning for such programs; and
(D)  maintain similar service-learning programs after such institution no longer receives support under this part.
(2) The Director shall take necessary steps to monitor the extent of compliance by such institutions with commitments entered into under paragraph (1) of this subsection and shall advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services of the extent of each such institutions compliance.

42 USC 4974 - Repealed. Pub. L. 10382, title III, 329, Sept. 21, 1993, 107 Stat. 902

Section, Pub. L. 93–113, title I, § 114, Oct. 1, 1973, 87 Stat. 400; Pub. L. 94–293, § 2, May 27, 1976, 90 Stat. 525; Pub. L. 96–143, § 6, Dec. 13, 1979, 93 Stat. 1075; Pub. L. 97–35, title VI, § 608(a), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 487; Pub. L. 98–288, § 10, May 21, 1984, 98 Stat. 191; Pub. L. 99–551, § 10(i)(3), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3078; Pub. L. 101–204, title II, § 201(3), Dec. 7, 1989, 103 Stat. 1813, related to student community service programs.