UI senior Ricky Ridgway had a standard plan coming into the UI: graduate from college, get a corporate finance job, and fulfill the American Dream.

But when he watched a friend go through the Teach For America application process last April, his plans changed.

“It’s not like I’m not interested in the corporate world, it’s just that I’m more interested in using my time now to help people,” the finance major said.

Teach For America, a national corps of recent college graduates who devote two years to teaching in public schools located in low-income areas, has seen record-breaking interest in recent years.

Teach For America saw a 42 percent increase in the number of applicants from the graduating class of 2009 compared with the class of 2008, and officials expect those numbers to continue climbing, said Teach For America spokeswoman Kaitlin Yaremchuk.

Yaremchuck said she is not sure why there has been such interest in the teaching program, but she thinks the dreary job market is forcing many students to think outside their specific area of study.

“The shaky economic times,” Yaremchuk said. “Students really look at what kind of career is going to be most meaningful for them.”

UI senior Michael Appel, another Teach For America applicant, echoed the sentiment.

He said he plans to eventually attend law school but would like some time off from his own academia.

“I wanted something meaningful to do in the meantime,” the political-science major said.

An added benefit of the program: Students don’t need a degree in education to apply. In fact, roughly 95 percent of students who join Teach For America are not education majors, said Christine Bushey, the UI Teach For America recruitment director.

If selected for Teach For America, members attend a five-week summer training institute to prepare them to teach full-time in the fall. Workers receive the starting salary for teachers in the district in which they teach and get full-time health benefits.

While the corps places roughly 4,000 graduates in classrooms each year, only 84 UI alumni have made it through the competitive application process since 1990, with 34 currently teaching across the country.

Teach For America isn’t the only program getting added attention — the Peace Corps saw a 16 percent boost in the number of applications between 2007 and 2008 and are hoping for a similar jump this year.

Officials don’t track people’s reasons for applying, but Peace Corps press director Josh Field said he thinks President Obama’s call to national service could have sparked some of the increased interest.

In the end, students’ motivations for seeking an alternative to a more typical job vary.

For Ridgway, he knows firsthand the effectiveness of a fun teacher, and he said he hopes to create the same bond with future students if selected for the program.

“I had a science teacher that I just loved, Mr. Brown,” Ridgway said. “The first teacher I thought was just so cool.”

Engaging students in a fun way could be one of the answers to solving the performance gap between low-income and high-income schools that Teach For America aims to eliminate, he said.

“I want to be part of the solution. What that entails is giving these kids the confidence that they can learn,” Ridgway said.