Okay, so I'm going back to school after fifteen years away. I've been back for a year now and it will take two more to finish. I'm spending a lot but I'm not just screwing around, I'm trying to better myself. I might even teach English for a few years when I graduate, for the job security yes, but also to pay it forward. (I've started looking into Teach for America.)
Well, this semester I got myself into a bit of a bind. I lost my job, some of my chronic conditions flared up again, and my new apartment turned out to be more expensive than I'd planned for. To be blunt, it really wasn't looking good. The math said I'd be broke by Tax Day and I would have a very hard time getting a new (part time) job and multiple paychecks in time to pay the rent in May. I certainly didn't want to quit school to take the only full time job available, selling cell phones.
I looked at emergency loans via the University, but then there was my tax return- would that be enough? Certainly I'd have it in time. H&R Block told me that I'd only get $40 and it wasn't worth it for them to do it when they'd charge more than that, and I could get it done on campus for free. Fair enough, and good to know.
So I went to KU's Student Money Management Services and Legal Services for Students. They told me that if I simply itemized my school expenses and took the American Opportunity Tax Credit (which I'd never done and never heard of before) I would get a lot more than any $40. After they figured and filed my taxes they told me the number.
It was over $1500.
So, Public 1, Private 0.
Needless to say, that's more than enough to get me through the rough patch. Next semester I won't have expenses like furniture so between that and working (even part time) over the summer I should be fine.
So what happens with that money? Obviously, I have to spend most of it. A little over half will go to pay the May rent and utilities. With the other half I can pay off credit cards, invest in my writing/editing side business (so maybe I can turn a profit finally) start saving up for a car, or maybe even get health insurance, now that my pre-existing conditions won't bar me. (I could get on Medicaid if Brownback would participate in the expansion.) Regardless, all of it goes right back into the economy.
What do the taxpayers get for your investment? One schmuck who would have gone back to "perma-temp" or even "taker" status at best instead becomes... another taxpayer, and maybe even a teacher in a neighborhood that needs them. (I'm looking at Chicago or KCK.) That $1500 will make a huge difference in my life, but other lives as well, and the return on investment will eventually be much more. That's how economic stimulus works.
Why am I talking about the stimulus bill? Isn't 2009 ancient history? Because the American Opportunity Tax Credit was part of it. Of course the Republicans fought it tooth and nail and only shut up about it when Obamacare became the elephant in the room. (pun intended) I guess they'd rather that $1500 go to some Walton or Koch brother who wouldn't even notice it.
Yeah, I know, anecdotal evidence only goes so far, but it can also be pretty poignant and personal. It can remind us that there are real people behind the numbers.