As part of the Honors College mission to develop service-minded "innovation citizens," a minimum of 30 hours of approved service work is required of each Honors College student to be completed within their first three years. Honors College students are eligible to begin submitting hours to the HC Community Service Record Portal on their first day of classes as an undergraduate student, unless there are eligible HC Serves-sponsored events during the week before classes as students move in. Each Honors College student is required to submit the minimum of 30 approved hours by May 1 of their junior year, or at least 1 year before their expected graduation date as an Honors College Scholar.
The service requirement can be credit or non-credit bearing; paid internships or work will not fulfill the service requirement. There is no maximum of service hours you can acquire within the Rutgers and New Brunswick/surrounding communities (East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Highland Park, Piscataway, and Edison). You may earn all 30 service hours through Rutgers and New Brunswick/surrounding community service opportunities, though it is encouraged you look into additional opportunities.
A maximum of 20 hours total can come from a community service opportunity outside of Rutgers and New Brunswick/surrounding communities. To verify whether an opportunity will count towards your total or if you have a general question about community service, you may contact HCServes@echo.rutgers.edu.
The Honors College is committed to creating a culture of community service and we encourage you to continue logging your service hours even after you have met the requirement.
Logging Service Hours
In order to get credit for your service, you must log your hours on the HC Serves form. On the form, you will need to include the name of a supervisor or advisor who can verify that you completed your service; they may be contacted to confirm your service with them. You can either submit one form with the total hours of service at each site, or you can log your hours individually per session.
Service Hours Portal
All students can view progress towards their service requirement on the HC Community Service Record portal.
Honors College Sponsored Service
The Honors College is excited to offer engaging community service programs through our Community Service Division with the student-led Honors Programming Committee. You may view upcoming events in the Honors College Calendar of Events and keeping posted to our weekly Inside The Honors College newsletter.
Changemaking Points
As of September 2025, Changemaking Points will continue to exist as HC Serves hours. However, the "Changemaking Points" label will not be used for future Honors College programs.
Deadlines
Listed below are deadlines for the HC Serves Community Service Learning Requirement based on graduation date. Please note that the graduation dates are based on the completion of your four-year degree (if you are graduating early, you are still expected to complete the requirement a year prior to your graduation date). EMSOP students are required to complete the service requirement by May 1st of their junior/third year.
- Graduating January 2026: January 1, 2025
- Graduating May 2026: May 1, 2025
- Graduating January 2027: January 1, 2026
- Graduating May 2027: May 1, 2026
- Graduating January 2028: January 1, 2027
- Graduating May 2028: May 1, 2027
- Graduating January 2029: January 1, 2028
- Graduating May 2029: May 1, 2029
Service Opportunities
Featured Service Opportunities
All hours of service completed at Rutgers University or in the New Brunswick/surrounding community will count toward a student's 30 total hours of community service.
Not Approved for Service Hours
The following events and programs DO NOT count for service hours. You will find clarifications for each of the commonly logged types of service that have not counted for community service hours.
Additional Opportunity Hours
Additional opportunity hours will count for a maximum of 20 hours toward a student's 30 total hours of service.