Thanks to the Office of Active Citizenship (OACS), not having a car on campus does not prevent students from doing community service at off-campus sites.
OACS has a fleet of four cars and two minivans available on loan to students participating in community service projects in Davidson County. These cars are available for student organization service projects, individual service projects and service learning class projects.
The vehicle loan program is only available to students who have completed OACS’s driver authorization program. The program consists of an application, an online training module and a 30-minute video training video.
Vehicles are available to students on both weekdays and weekends. Students must reserve a vehicle well in advance in order to ensure they can get one of the six vehicles available. In addition, students have the option of reserving the cars on a recurring basis if their projects are ongoing.
Senior Elena Magrans, president of Amnesty International, appreciates the convenience of OACS’s loan program.
“I like that they make it so accessible to all students,” she said.
OACS’s vehicle loan program does have some limits though. Since the vehicles cannot leave Davidson County, organizations hoping to travel farther must explore other options.
For example, Alternative Spring Break (ASB) must rent vehicles in order to travel to their various sites. The advisers of ASB and other groups under OACS’s auspices procure the vehicles for students, said Assistant Director of OACS Shaiya Baer.
Many rental companies do not let individuals under the age of 25 rent vehicles, but Vanderbilt has a standing arrangement with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to get around the restriction.
“Vanderbilt University and Enterprise Rent-A-Car have a special arrangement for service groups that allows for 21-24 year old students to drive rental vehicles,” said Baer. He added that in “very special circumstances,” a group’s adviser can arrange for a 20 year-old student to drive.
Students hoping to learn more about the vehicle loan program can check OACS’s website or speak to their organization’s adviser.
