Volunteering allows university students to actively engage with their communities, fostering both personal growth and academic development. By dedicating their free time to helping others and supporting meaningful causes, students can boost their confidence, enhance self-esteem, and develop essential social-emotional skills. This engagement is especially significant for students involved in volunteer programs within special education, offering unique opportunities to apply these skills in real-world contexts. Ultimately, volunteerism within special education provides students with a platform to integrate academic knowledge with community involvement, leading to personal fulfillment and a deeper commitment to societal well-being. This paper examines the experiences of students participating in volunteer programs within special education. Specifically, it examines how students describe their volunteer work and the positive and negative aspects they identify. The study is qualitative and part of a larger ongoing research project that began in 2020. The sample consisted of 60 students (37 females and 23 males), aged 19–26 years (M=21.74, SD=3.62), enrolled in a pedagogical department for primary education. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and the analysis was based on content analysis, specifically thematic analysis. The findings revealed that all volunteers viewed their volunteer work positively, with the majority describing it as a unique experience. The challenges and negative aspects of volunteering were primarily identified as: No negative aspects identified 26 (43.3%), difficulties among volunteers in terms of training and preparedness 12 (20.0%), lack of diverse volunteer programs in special education and other sectors 10 (16.7%), challenges in initial interaction with children with a diagnosis 8 (13.3%), and lack of collaboration between volunteers and institutions 4 (6.7%). Volunteering is associated with a variety of positive elements: self-improvement and emotional fulfillment (35%), opportunity to contribute (33.3%), gaining experience and knowledge in special education (16.7%), and a change in lifestyle (15%). The study concludes that volunteering in special education offers significant personal and academic benefits for students, promoting emotional fulfillment, self-improvement, and practical experience. Although challenges such as training and collaboration exist, the positive aspects of volunteering significantly outweigh the negatives, contributing to both personal growth and broader community impact.

Keywords: Volunteering, special education, experiences, challenges, rewards.