Associated Student Government and University of Arkansas Parking and Transit announce an initiative to allow students to perform community service to cover the costs of parking tickets incurred on campus. The initiative of the Renner Administration overwhelmingly passed ASG Senate in March.

The “Work It Off” Program will run similarly to what sometimes occurs in the University’s All Conduct Board decisions, according to Stewart Tice, ASG director of transit and parking. Students must perform at least two hours of community service after receiving a citation and will be able to apply this service to one citation per academic year. Utilizing ASG’s partnership with the Volunteer Action Center, students will log in to the VAC’s volunteer services website to facilitate this process.

“This provides an incentive for a new population of students to utilize the Volunteer Action Center – an experience we hope they’ll enjoy and return to, benefiting both the University and Northwest Arkansas Communities,” ASG President Bo Renner said.

After setting up an online account through the Volunteer Action Center, students will have access to service opportunities approved by the Center for Community Engagement. Upon completion of volunteer hours, students will print off these logged hours and bring them to the U of A Parking and Transit, much in the way that they would bring a check to pay off a ticket.

“This is an easy and unique way to encourage students to engage in community service through the VAC, while hopefully at the same time, curving their frustration with parking on campus,” Renner said. “If we can get students in the habit of serving our community during college, they are much more likely to continue once they graduate. This is a good, innovative idea that we are excited to start.”

The program will run until the end of the spring 2014 academic semester, and pick up at the start of the fall 2015 academic semester. Some key specifics to keep in mind:

Students are limited to “working off” a maximum of one citation per academic year as the program’s aim is to get as many people involved in the community as possible, not to allow abuse by repeat offenders.

A cap of 1,000 tickets can be “worked-off” per academic year on a first-come, first-served basis (one ticket per student limit). After 1,000 tickets have been “worked-off,” all tickets must be paid in full.

Two hours of community service must be completed regardless of fine cost.

The two community service hours must be performed following the written citation date (the date of the service hours must appear on the service log printed by the student).

Work It Off is available for students at http://volunteer.uark.edu/volunteer/. Any questions should be referred to Stewart Tice, ASG Director of Transit & Parking at stice@uark.edu.