[kleneway]

When I graduated from high school, I would not have been able to go to college if not for lots of help from the gov't in the form of grants and loans. After graduating, I personally felt that I should spend a year "giving back" to the country by participating in AmeriCorps. Ironically, I ended up learning way more from the experienced than I actually contributed during my year of service. Ask anyone who participated in either AmeriCorps or Peace Corps and they'll likely tell you the same thing.

So, as someone who voluntarily went through basically this exact program, it absolutely worked for me in terms of getting both a formal and non-formal educational experiences.