Transylvania students learn real-world skills through tax prep program
by John Friedlein
Transylvania’s accounting program teaches students to do more than just crunch numbers. For more than four decades, they’ve been helping their community through a free income tax service while learning practical skills.
One of them is professor Christi Hayne ’03, who now guides current Pioneers participating in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. For a day each week in February, they meet with clients in the newly renovated Cowgill Center off Old Morrison Circle.
Hayne and colleague Melissa Mattox ’07 are paying it forward after learning from professor emeritus Judy Jones, who brought VITA to campus in 1980.
“It gives our students real-world experience,” Hayne said. E-filing tax returns for residents making $62,000 or less adds variety to their skill set, which they will complement with, say, an internship at a large corporation.
One of Transy’s values is giving to the community, to not just give back, but also get some credit. Transylvania, in fact, is the only school in Kentucky giving students credit for VITA
Christi Hayne ’03
Local residents not only get their taxes prepped for free, but the accounting students (mostly juniors and seniors) work hard to get them the biggest refund possible. Hayne said she sees a lot of clients return year after year.
“It just gives us more engagement with Lexington as a whole,” said Kaden Bates ’24, now a staff tax accountant at Crosslin. In addition to VITA having been a way to give back to the community, he pointed out how having the experience helps to set Transylvania students apart from other candidates in the job market.
The critical thinking and problem-solving skills he and his classmates have learned from working with clients from the community are different than those needed to answer a question on a quiz.
Problem-solving skills develop exponentially through this program and being able to gain real life experience can help anybody in the accounting department.
Kaden Bates ’24
“I feel like a big part of doing accounting or any sort of tax in general is having to work through certain problems, and you might not know the answer right off the top of your head, as the tax code is very extensive.” Bates said. “Being able to look through certain forms and find certain numbers and where to exactly put them and do the math with them is a great problem-solving skill for just about anybody.”
Once they graduate, Transylvania accounting students are ready to collect and analyze complicated data and then share their work with others. The program prepares them so well that they can sit for the CPA exam upon graduation, which is uncommon.
From community engagement to internships to the classroom, these Pioneers are getting a wide-reaching, liberal arts education that’s also hands on.
“I want to provide that experience — not just: Read that textbook, and then do a test,” Hayne added.
For more information about Transylvania’s free income tax prep service, email vita@transy.edu.
