David C. Bunker '93, immediate past-president of the Harvard-Radcliffe College Democrats, disagreed.

"It's not in our economic interest to let smart, bright people be unemployed," he said. Given a college education, "they might contribute to the country."

Boyle also said that while she agreed that the concept of increasing activism and volunteerism among students is a good idea, paying them for their work "takes away what volunteerism is."

HRC Vice President Tom Woods '94 raised the concern that the community service completed under the plan would not be useful.

"People will be doing jobs that do not need doing because unions will complain about unfair competition," he said.

Zindler denied this, saying that labor unions have given the program strong support because many of them are not filled and need more employees.

He also said there are great community needs--such as parental education on children's health--that are not being met by current service programs. The National Service Plan could address these needs, Zindler said.

If Congress passes the program. Zindler said 25,000 students should participate in the National Service Plan in 1994. Eventually, planners hope it will expand to include about 150,000 participants.

"We feel pretty good about where we are," he said. "We've been working really hard to get bipartisan support."

Under the current plan, participants would receive health and child care benefits in addition to at least minimum wage and the $5,000 per year tuition credit.