An oxymoron--paid volunteers

A better deal than Americorps! That only pays a stipend and qualifies you to be a "public servant" to repay your college debt. Charity for Debt might pay off your college loans at up to $20 an hour for your "volunteering." Plus, if you join Americorps to pay off your college loans you might get stuck recruiting people for food stamps.

We need a new name for this feel good enterprise (Charity for Debt is a "non-profit," but I don't know if it receives government grants for its own staffing and programs). Look. It's not charity if you're working off your debt. In the 17th century we settled a lot of the east coast with people working off debt--it was called indentured servitude. Some people worked off their trans-Atlantic passage. And you're not volunteering if you get your debt reduced for each hour you work. Oh, and it's tax free pay so an hour of work may go 30% further in "volunteering."

I can't balance my check book, but I know that much about how the non-profits (and the government) spin. I've also been a volunteer.