Abstract

This study examined the impact of service learning on undergraduate students’ civic engagement, career readiness, and program completion at a large public university with a Carnegie community engagement classification. The results showed that service learning led to significant increases in students’ protective, social, and enhancement motivations for volunteering, while other motivational factors remained stable. Changes in specific motivational dimensions, such as values, social, understanding, and career factors, were important predictors of students’ perceived likelihood of course and program completion. Notably, the predictive power of the models differed substantially between lower-division and upper-division students, with the lower-division model explaining over 36% to 42% of the variance in completion outcomes compared to around 22% to 26% for upper-division students. These findings demonstrate how service learning provides distinct benefits at different stages of undergraduate education, shaping students’ academic, personal, and civic development. The study suggests that service learning can be strategically implemented as a high-impact practice to foster civic engagement, career readiness, and student retention, with tailored approaches needed for different undergraduate levels.