The program espouses a philosophy of education, emphasizing active, engaged learning with the broad goals of active citizenship, community involvement, social responsibility and lifelong learning. There are many community service activities at Ramapo College. Community service can be any volunteer activity undertaken by individuals, student clubs, sororities or fraternities. A commonly used definition is that community service is unpaid work which improves the quality of life of those being served, of those serving, and ultimately, the community at large. Service-Learning is the integration of community service into the academic curriculum.
Participants carefully examine or reflect upon the meaning of their service.
The synthesis of the service experience within educational framework offers benefits which far exceed what service or learning offer separately. Students who perform service as part of their course work can see the connection between their work and the underlying issues behind the social problems being addressed. When service is used as the basis for critical reflection, students better understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens. Reflection is at the heart of service-learning. Class professors encourage students to keep logs and journals during their service-learning assignments.