UA Students in SaveFirst Initiative Help Alabama Families Secure $3.7 Million in Tax Refunds

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — More than 100 University of Alabama undergraduate and law students worked during the first six weeks of tax season at free tax preparation sites across the state to prepare some 1,900 returns for working families. UA students helped these families secure $3.7 million in tax refunds and saved them $475,000 in commercial tax preparation fees.

The UA students provided a critical role in SaveFirst, a statewide initiative sponsored by the UA Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility and Impact Alabama. UA students collaborated with 300 additional students from 13 other campuses across the state to assist low-income, working families. In total, SaveFirst students assisted more than 2,600 families who claimed $4.8 million in refunds and saved $640,000 in commercial preparation fees. This is close to doubling the effort of UA students in the last tax season.

More than 40 students enrolled in a UA service-learning course on poverty taught by Stephen Black, director of the UA Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility. This course combined academic coursework with a requirement of service at SaveFirst sites, and the enrolled students discussed and reflected on issues such as perceptions and misperceptions of those living in poverty and current policies affecting working families.

Eleven returning students in the program obtained a level of certification that enabled them to supervise new participants and manage the free tax preparation site in Tuscaloosa. Student leaders such as these play an important role in establishing the sustainability of the initiative year after year.

“The value of student participation in this effort is not just related to the incredible service provided to Alabama’s working families,” said Black. “SaveFirst also cultivates a willingness and desire in students to take responsibility for the well-being and progress of the larger community. Through this service-learning opportunity, they become empowered to critically think about the structural causes of the need for their service and take leadership roles to develop innovative solutions to them.”

SaveFirst is a collaborative effort of universities and community-based organizations throughout the state. From its first to third year, SaveFirst increased the number of community-based partnerships from 20 organizations in two cities to more than 70 organizations in 12 cities.

SaveFirst students play an essential role in providing an alternative that helps low-income families receive their full tax benefits and credits. Practices such as payday loan schemes, check-cashing operations and predatory lending target low-income individuals. Individuals who rely on commercial tax preparers to access the Earned Income Tax Credit or other tax credits to which they are entitled, greatly reduce the efficacy of these programs, especially if those individuals make use of refund anticipation loans (rapid refunds), SaveFirst organizers explain.

For more information, contact Stephen Black at stephen.black@ua.edu or Sarah Louise Smith, SaveFirst coordinator, at SLSmith@impactalabama.org.

The Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at UA seeks to cultivate a willingness and desire in students to take responsibility for the well-being and progress of the larger community, especially through innovative, curriculum-based, service-learning opportunities.