American Opportunity Tax Credit

The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a partially refundable tax credit first detailed in Section 1004 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The act specifies:

The act directs several Treasury studies:

Originally proposed by President Barack Obama to help students and families pay for post-secondary education, the proposal called for a $4000 credit in exchange for 100 hours of community service. The stated goal of the credit was to, "cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students."

On January 6, 2009, Congressman Chaka Fattah introduced H.R.106, The American Opportunity Tax Credit Act of 2009.

In brief, the proposed act specified

On January 27, 2009, in the Rayburn House Office Building, Congressman Fattah convened a Congressional Roundtable, "Igniting Public Service and Securing College Access: the American Opportunity Tax Credit, H.R. 106". The panel was keynoted by Former Senator Harris Wofford and included Karen Kaskey (PennSERVE), Michelle Cooper (Institute for Higher Education Policy), David Baime (American Association of Community Colleges), Quyen (Arana) Wickham (K20 Center, University of Oklahoma), and Reginald Williams (Benjamin Banneker Academic High School).

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, 124 Stat. 3296, H.R. 4853), was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 17, 2010.

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