Being required to do community service brings images of road-side work crews dressed in bright orange with a police officer in charge. This was going to change. One of Obama’s plans for higher education was to offer a tax credit that required community service. This seemed like a great example of that vote-for-change, yes-we-can message that characterized this administration’s run for office, but it didn’t come out the way it was supposed to.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit: How It Was and What it Became
My favorite part of the original plan was the 100 hours of community service that would have been required. The community service would have been what you owed, making the tax credit more like a loan, which seems more fiscally responsible. This kind of trade for money seemed like a great idea, but it didn’t come to fruition, unfortunately. The original plan was to offer $4000, which has dropped to $2500 with some stipulations. I’m not really concerned about that part; I wanted that community service. It was a delightful idea. Where did this stipulation go? CNN doesn’t mention it, neither does Forbes.

There is some discussion about how the community service would have been dealt with. A few questions that come to mind: Would it need to be completed before the tax credit could be put through? If a student bailed on the community service side of things, would they be jailed or would the money be taken away?

It’s still a good plan, even without the community service requirement. Just a guess, but dealing with the requirement (and it’s violators) probably would have cost too much to be practical. I would have liked to see it, though.