WASHINGTON - A new university with the special mission of helping young adults answer the president's call for public service may be coming to the D.C. area.

With the economy faltering and a new administration calling for Americans to serve their communities, D.C. native Chris Myers Asch said he believes 2009 to be the perfect time to address critical shortages in public service.

"Government [is] always seen as the problem. Government [is] always slow and inefficient and ineffective, and it really discourages young people from seeing government as a place to spend your life, a place to make a difference," Myers Asch said.

A January survey of 43,000 college undergraduates revealed that nearly 17 percent feel public service is an ideal first job, but are leery of all of the red tape and the low starting salaries.

Myers Asch wants to cut through their concerns with the help of a U.S. public service academy to be something like the Naval Academy without the uniforms or weapons.

"Students would get a free education in return for a commitment to serve five years in after graduation in civilian public service," Myers Asch said.

College student Melissa Stuart said she wishes a similar type of program was around when she was looking at schools. "If this institution existed four years ago I would be hoping to graduate from it this spring -- that's the bottom line," she said.

Instead Stuart, a Washington State University student, is trying to help make the academy of 5,000 students a reality.

The current Congress is paying attention to the idea. Hillary Clinton co-sponsored a bill before leaving the Senate to create the institution, which would cost $205 million a year.

"It could be anything from being a local teacher, public school teacher or cop -- all the way up to working in a federal agency like FEMA (web | news) or the border patrol," Myers Asch explained.

Others argue the problem isn't about the desire to serve, but instead it's about getting young people to stay in the public sector.

"It sounds like an active government solution to the problem, but it won't be a solution to the problem. It will be expensive and it will divert resources that really might go to solving the problem," noted Phil Levy, an American Enterprise Institute resident scholar.

Myers Asch said he'd like the public service academy to be located in D.C., perhaps on the grounds of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center after the facility is closed by the Army.

So far, 24 Senators, 123 members of Congress, and more than 70 college presidents have endorsed the academy.

» U.S. Public Service Academy

» Partnership for Public Service Survey

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