Several Cornell College students were featured on KCRG’s evening news for their work supporting the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
“Getting to know what the things that I’m going to be doing in my future career will do for the people I’m serving, I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway I’ll have from all this,” said junior Brody Williams ’27 to KCRG.
More than a dozen Cornell students are volunteering this tax season as trained volunteers. In fact, they trained for a semester to get certified. Now, they are connecting with the community and gaining meaningful experience for their future careers.
United Way of East Central Iowa leads the community's VITA program, which provides free tax preparation services to individuals and families with household incomes of less than $69,000. It’s a national IRS-sponsored program that helps clients accurately complete their taxes and maximize any refunds they are eligible for.
This is the third year that Cornell has partnered with the United Way of East Central Iowa to host a VITA site. During the 2024 tax season, the Cornell College VITA site had seven volunteers who helped file 147 tax returns, resulting in $105,980 back in federal refunds and $33,356 in state refunds.
Cornell’s VITA site is located in Cole Library and is open on Monday and Tuesday evenings through April.