This week the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), the American Council on Education (ACE) and other higher education advocates shared concerns with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s proposal to institute a community service requirement as a condition for receiving a tax credit for tuition and related expenses.

In a letter to the Department more than 20 higher education organizations expressed several concerns about requiring mandatory community service as a condition for receipt of federal higher education tax credits.

The letter argues that this proposal, if implemented, could:

• Detrimentally impact a number of students, particularly low-income and nontraditional students,
• Be extremely difficult and costly to implement and administer, and
• Inadvertently harm the thriving community service and service-learning efforts already occurring on campuses across the higher education community.