The impacts of community service participation on college student development are extensive and well documented. The characteristics of students that predict volunteerism, however, are not well understood. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, to estimate the differences in first-year students' decision to volunteer while in college by their background characteristics and by the characteristics of the institutions that they attend; and second, for those students who did not volunteer, to estimate the differences in their intentions to volunteer (i.e., "Plan to do," "Do not plan to do," or "Have not decided") by those same student and institutional characteristics. Study results suggest changes to several campus practices that may remove barriers to successful community service participation among first-year students. (Contains 4 tables.)