Congressman Lloyd Doggett and volunteers from the Austin Chamber of Commerce helped college-bound students and their parents apply for financial aid as part of the Financial Aid Saturdays program. Congressman Doggett spoke to the group about federal efforts to make higher education more affordable, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and expressed his support for the 20,010 by 2010 initiative, an effort to increase college enrollment in Metro Austin by 30% by 2010.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a tuition and textbook tax credit authored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett that was recently signed into law by President Obama as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. It provides taxpayers with a new credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related expenses paid during the taxable year. The American Opportunity Tax Credit would replace the Hope Tax Credit and the above-the-line tuition tax deduction for the next two years. For the first time, textbooks would be included in the higher education expenses that would be eligible for the tax credit. Forty percent of the tax credit – up to $1000 – would be refundable. This tax credit will provide an estimated $14 billion in tax relief. President Obama submitted his federal budget to Congress this week which proposes to make Rep. Doggett’s tax credit permanent.

Financial Aid Saturdays is a program of Opportunity Austin’s 20,010 by 2010 educational initiative to increase the number of financial aid application completions and provide assistance to help students/families complete other financial aid applications such as the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) and scholarship submissions. In addition, free income tax preparation services are provided by the Foundation Communities Community Tax Centers at select sites to help expedite the college financial aid application process. The Chamber is conducting 24 Financial Aid Saturday FAFSA and income tax completion events over a 90 day period to assist 1,800 students/parents. The public and 10 school districts composed of 33 campuses are personally invited to attend any event at any campus. Non-ISD students are also welcome to attend. The goal is to increase financial aid application completions by an additional 7.5%.

The 20,010 by 2010 initiative was established by the Austin Chamber of Commerce to help increase metro-Austin's college enrollment rate by 20,010 more students by the year 2010. Funded by Opportunity Austin, the Chamber’s economic development arm, the initiative has coordinated with several dozen community and business leaders to increase the direct-from-high-school-to-college enrollment rate to 64%. For more information about 20,010 by 2010, visit the web site at www.collegereadyaustin.com.