Tax Season Relief: SUNY Oneonta Students Provide Free Tax Prep for Local Community 

By BRIANNA FERGUSON
SUNY Institute for Local News
ONEONTA

SUNY Oneonta student interns are once again providing free tax preparation services to the local community through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. They are currently accepting clients for 2025 income tax help on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through April 8.  

The program is open to all community members. Tax Day is Wednesday, April 15. 

The VITA program allows students to gain professional experience while assisting a wide range of taxpayers, including all SUNY Oneonta staff, University Police Department officers, lower income taxpayers and senior citizens.  

Operating as a three-credit course, the program—led by accounting assistant professor Charlene Foley-Deno for the past five years—currently features 42 student interns ranging from freshmen to seniors. Enrollment is not restricted to accounting majors, and no prior tax-filing experience is required to participate. All students participating in the program are IRS-certified volunteers. 

The program utilizes a structured workflow to ensure accuracy and professionalism. Depending on their training, students serve as intake specialists, interviewers, coordinators, or quality reviewers. Once a return is drafted, it undergoes a “quality review” process involving double-checking all tax forms. 

For the student volunteers, the program offers a rare bridge between academic theory and professional practice. 

Participating students appreciate “getting to learn something that’s in the real world,” said Christopher Schimkus, a junior professional accounting major. “Like obviously, what we learn in the classroom is real stuff as well, but this is real life like, actually working in the field.” 

Students receive guidance from coordinators during their initial client meetings until they are comfortable working independently. Intern Alesandro Aguilera described the program as a supportive learning environment. 

“I feel like it’s a very safe environment,” said Aguilera, a junior accounting major. “You can’t really make mistakes. Because if you don’t know anything, you can just ask a question… Everyone wants to help each other.” 

Beyond technical tax knowledge, participants report significant growth in “soft skills” such as attention to detail and interpersonal communication.

Senior Gisele Sweeney, a professional accounting major, noted that the role requires clear explanations when presenting returns to taxpayers. 

She said that she has gained the skill of “communicating to taxpayers, especially when you’re giving back their returns, explaining what’s in front of them. We also have to have a lot of attention to detail when you’re looking at the reviews, and doing quality review.” 

“I was a really shy talker; I never was outgoing,” Sweeney added. “So, this really took me out of my comfort zone.” 

Clemence Lukengu confirmed that “the skill I definitely love so far is how to communicate with the clients.” He went on to say, “and also what information I need for myself in order to make sure that everything that I’m doing for the clients, it’s all right and no mistakes.” 

The service is particularly impactful for the Oneonta region’s elderly population. Aguilera noted that many older residents find tax season stressful, and the students are eager to help lift that burden. 

“We usually have a lot of older people and I feel like it’s harder for them to do their taxes,” said Aguilera. “So, they don’t have to worry about really a lot apart from signing, giving us their information.”  

Lukengu agreed that the community impact is a primary reward.

“I’m very happy that I get to help the community,” the junior accounting major said. “I would say, in general, to file the taxes [puts] the burden on us, not on them. So, they get to relax at home when we’re stressing out working on your taxes.”

“And it’s very good on our career to present that reward and look at what we did,” Lukengu added.

Program Coordinator Foley-Deno said watching students gain the confidence to solve complex problems, such as multi-state tax issues, is the most rewarding part of the initiative. 

“I love it when students come to me in the beginning, like, ‘oh, I heard about this, can I be involved?’ I love that. Then I tell them all what it is. Then, once we get rolling in the class and they solve something like a multi-state [problem], I love that because that just builds so much confidence in them to now handle something else,” Foley-Deno said. 

The hands-on learning gained through the VITA program is not something every college or university offers its students.

Steven Dedvukaj, a senior professional accounting major said, “It’s a great way of getting an experience for the tax world. A lot of colleges don’t offer what we do—and it looks great on your résumé, especially if you’re a coordinator as well.”  

Area residents interested in scheduling an appointment can call (607) 436-2171 or e-mail vita@oneonta.edu. 

This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Lab, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.