I have this activity starting from ninth grade where for the first year and a half I got volunteer hours for it. The rest of the time, up until now, I’ve gotten a stipend of around $100 for eight weeks, roughly 2 hours/week. On all my resumes and job applications I’ve referred to it as work, but I was talking to another person who does this, and she said she’s always listed it as volunteering since it equates to about $6.25/hour, which is below minimum wage. So is this volunteering or a job? And do I need to be consistent with it? Like if I list it one way on the Common App, can I list it another way on scholarship applications? Thank you!
Some volunteering may give you a small compensation to cover a meal, parking, and/or transportation.
@billcsho ?? did you understand my question?
blister did answer your question. It’s volunteering. A stipend is common in volunteer positions.
Yes you should be consistent, since this isn’t a job. It won’t help or hurt you to list it as a volunteer activity everywhere.
@lilypippili Do you understand my answer? If the money is for covering your cost to volunteer, it is not a wage. Did you get a W-2 form? It is the nature and the intention of the work that determine if it is volunteer or not.
@billcsho Sorry, I completely misunderstood what you said, I must be tired or something lol. You’re right then, I didn’t get a W-2 form or anything, so it must be just volunteering.
Also, the reason I wanted to list it different ways is I can put in more volunteer activities if I list this as a job. Anyway, thank you for your responses! This clears up a lot 
WAIT. I just realized I was essentially cheated of 2 years’ worth of volunteer hours… ughhhhhhhhhh why :((
You’re overestimating how valuable ANY voluntarism is to your college app. It’s one or two lines that will be read in .4 seconds and the admissions reader will move on. HS students SERIOUSLY overestimate how much colleges care about voluntarism.
**Not true. **There are some schools (eg Tulane) that put a lot of focus on community service, and several that offer scholarships for community service. This is a few years old, but is an interesting article http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/11/30/community-service-work-increasingly-important-for-college-applicants
Schools are also increasingly including service learning in their requirements. UGA is adding it this upcoming year. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/serving-learning-programs
But T26E4 is correct that many students think the difference between getting in somewhere or not is dependent upon volunteering. It isn’t. There is no volunteering requirement, even at Tulane. It’s just another EC that you can take to a high level or not. It’s a popular choice because volunteering comes in some many flavors and is so flexible that it can match any schedule. That doesn’t make it a requirement anywhere if you have other ECs (or a job!)
By the way- what do YOU consider it? Was it volunteer for the first 2 years and then a paid stipend position since then? If you are paid less than $600 they do not have to W-2 or 1099 you, but it can still be considered a paid position. It sounds like it was initially a volunteer position and then transitioned to a position with a nominal stipend. If you consider it now a job, thats how you list it. Doesn’t matter what the other person does. Just don’t double dip. If you list 2 years as volunteer and 2 as paid, explain it that way on your resume/activities list.
N’s mom- there is a requirement to complete some community service at Tulane. Every student will do it. Its not an admissions requirement, but they look very favorably at it as it is a big part of who they are. And they give $$ scholarships for Community Service.
What kind of volunteering? Lots of driving or taking pub transport? It helps to know what else the stipend may be intended for.
@jym626 It’s great that some schools actively reward top volunteers. But let’s say that there’s an aggregate of 100 or 200 scholarship winners. That’s the proverbial bucket drop when it comes to nervous HS students and parents – thus my statement that students overestimate voluntarism’s affect on their college app.
@jym626 That’s exactly what happened, I used to opt out of the stipend but two years ago I started receiving it again because I fulfilled my school’s community service requirement. But do you really recommend that I list it twice just to differentiate between volunteer hours and paid? Could I just list it as paid and explain that it was initially volunteer work in the additional info section? Otherwise it would kind of be a waste of space, I have other activities I want to put there.
@HRSMom Basically I help teach girls in elementary/middle school about topics in the STEM fields. I’m not sure what the purpose of the stipend is… some of the other “volunteers” might have to travel far but it’s pretty close to where I live.