[Natfinwellness] Natfinwellness Digest, Vol 23, Issue 20

Tue Sep 13 15:18:19 EDT 2016

Hello, 

Before jumping over to run our Student Money Management Office this past spring, I spent 10 years as a VITA program director for Austin's program. The year before I left, we prepared over 21,000 tax returns in Austin. Thought I'd throw in the perspective of a VITA program, wanting to partner with a college/university.  

This is what I required of potential host sites: 
1) Computer lab with a secure internet connection & printers (we supplied paper, toner) 
2) A locked space to store program materials and client documents, that was only accessible to VITA program staff. 
3) Space available from the end of January - April 15
4) Consistent and ample operating hours, including daytime, evenings and weekends
5) While the focus was serving students and faculty/staff of the host site, the host site needed to agree to open it to community members meeting the income guidelines ($50K or less in annual income) 
6)  Free and ample parking for volunteers and clients from the community 
7) Help promoting the site (including permission for us to post signage on the exterior of the site -- drive by traffic was our highest referral source) 
8) Offer to pitch the volunteer opportunity pre-season to students, faculty and staff 

It's great you're thinking of this now -- I had to finalize all my sites each year by October 31 to meet many deadlines (software license ordering, material forecasting/orders, determining staffing and volunteer levels, etc.) It would drive me crazy when a potential host site contacted me in December or even January saying, "What do we have to do to become a VITA site?"  

Take care, Karen 
_____________________________________________________
Karen L. Serna
Director, Student Money Management Office | Austin Community College | 512-223-8186 | karen.serna at austincc.edu | austincc.edu/money  

> On Sep 12, 2016, at 2:34 PM, natfinwellness-request at lists.osu.edu wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. VITA Site Set-Up (Pellegrini, Andrea)
>   2. Re: VITA Site Set-Up (Goebel, Paul)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2016 17:37:48 +0000
> From: "Pellegrini, Andrea" <apelleg3 at uillinois.edu>
> To: National Financial Wellness Listserv
>    <natfinwellness at lists.osu.edu>
> Cc: "Bauer, Charlotte D" <bauersmi at illinois.edu>
> Subject: [Natfinwellness] VITA Site Set-Up
> Message-ID: <D3FC520C.64625%apelleg3 at uillinois.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> 
> Hello all!
> 
> I may have asked this last year, but it came up in a meeting again today?
> 
> What has been your experience(s) with VITA tax prep sites at a college or university?
> What?s required?
> What have been your challenges?
> What have been the successes?
> And anything else you can provide!
> 
> Sincerest of thanks in advance!
> 
> Best,
> Andrea
> 
> Andrea Pellegrini, Assistant Director
> 
> USFSCO ? Providing Solutions
> Student Money Management Center
> P: 217.333.6228<tel:217.333.6228>
> apelleg3 at uillinois.edu<mailto:apelleg3 at uillinois.edu>
> 
> studentmoney.uillinois.edu<http://studentmoney.uillinois.edu/>
> paymybill.uillinois.edu<http://paymybill.uillinois.edu/>
> 
> University of Illinois
> Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, Springfield
> 
> obfs.uillinois.edu<x-apple-msg-load://63862CD5-9DEC-4094-AD97-16228078259E/OBFS.uillinois.edu>
> 
> SMMC is on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/ILStudentMoney> <http://www.facebook.com/ILStudentMoney> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/ilstudentmoney> <https://twitter.com/ilstudentmoney> | Instagram<http://instagram.com/ILStudentMoney> | <https://foursquare.com/ilstudentmoney> Y<http://youtube.com/ILStudentMoney>ouTube<http://youtube.com/ILStudentMoney>
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> Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), any written communication to or from University employees regarding University business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2016 19:33:52 +0000
> From: "Goebel, Paul" <Paul.Goebel at unt.edu>
> To: National Financial Wellness Listserv
>    <natfinwellness at lists.osu.edu>
> Cc: "Bauer, Charlotte D" <bauersmi at illinois.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Natfinwellness] VITA Site Set-Up
> Message-ID:
>    <BY2PR0101MB1544553C92F7C82CBEDE67A9EFFF0 at BY2PR0101MB1544.prod.exchangelabs.com>
>    
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> UNT was a collegiate partner with our local VITA Program for several years. Serving as a site host is pretty much a turnkey experience.
> 
> What's required?
> A secured room with WIFI accessibility. With the tax returns being completed electronically we did not have to provide printer access. In addition, we were asked to manage a RSVP system for the appointments, while promoting the program via campus email and our social media. We would provide the onsite VITA coordinator with the RSVP list. They also offered walk-in assistance with preference given to those with reservations. Volunteers were provided with free on-campus parking.
> 
> What have been your challenges?
> Inability of the program to serve international students. Limited number of volunteers (we averaged 2/event).
> 
> What have been the successes?
> The program was a in-win for students and our center. Providing students with access to free income tax filing assistance was an early success point for our center. Our town-gown collaboration was applauded by senior administration.
> 
> Anything else?
> We limited on-campus appointments to students only due to restrictive on-campus parking. We averaged about 50 students being served through the program each Spring. We typically had 1-2 VITA volunteers on-campus 2-3 times during the early Spring semester. As more free online tax filing assistance resources have become available the interest from students in an on-campus partnership has waned significantly. We still promote the VITA Program available in the community the week following the release of W-2's by the university. We have reached out to other community-based tax preparing service providers when they are offering their service for preparing 1040EZ return free or at a reduced fee to students.
> 
> P-
> 
> PAUL F GOEBEL, CPFM
> Director
> UNT Student Money Management Center
> 940.369.7761 | Chestnut Hall 313
> 
> 
> From: Natfinwellness [mailto:natfinwellness-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Pellegrini, Andrea
> Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 12:38 PM
> To: National Financial Wellness Listserv <natfinwellness at lists.osu.edu>
> Cc: Bauer, Charlotte D <bauersmi at illinois.edu>
> Subject: [Natfinwellness] VITA Site Set-Up
> 
> Hello all!
> 
> I may have asked this last year, but it came up in a meeting again today...
> 
> What has been your experience(s) with VITA tax prep sites at a college or university?
> What's required?
> What have been your challenges?
> What have been the successes?
> And anything else you can provide!
> 
> Sincerest of thanks in advance!
> 
> Best,
> Andrea
> 
> Andrea Pellegrini, Assistant Director
> 
> USFSCO - Providing Solutions
> Student Money Management Center
> P: 217.333.6228<tel:217.333.6228>
> apelleg3 at uillinois.edu<mailto:apelleg3 at uillinois.edu>
> 
> 
> studentmoney.uillinois.edu<http://studentmoney.uillinois.edu/>
> paymybill.uillinois.edu<http://paymybill.uillinois.edu/>
> 
> University of Illinois
> Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, Springfield
> 
> obfs.uillinois.edu<x-apple-msg-load://63862CD5-9DEC-4094-AD97-16228078259E/OBFS.uillinois.edu>
> 
> SMMC is on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/ILStudentMoney> <http://www.facebook.com/ILStudentMoney> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/ilstudentmoney> <https://twitter.com/ilstudentmoney> | Instagram<http://instagram.com/ILStudentMoney> | Y<http://youtube.com/ILStudentMoney>ouTube<http://youtube.com/ILStudentMoney>
> 
> Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), any written communication to or from University employees regarding University business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.
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> End of Natfinwellness Digest, Vol 23, Issue 20
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