Student Volunteers
Every year, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Clinics at California State University, Northridge and other campuses in the CSU5+ VITA Initiative across Los Angeles County train and educate student volunteer tax preparers to serve the community. Participating students help low-income people by preparing and filing their tax returns free of charge. This powerful program provides a valuable community service while giving student volunteers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on career training.
Student preparers work in a VITA Clinic either through their college’s credited accounting course or by simply volunteering. At CSUN, before students can prepare tax returns for VITA clients, they must complete a hands-on training course provided by Professor Lucy Nalbandian, CSUN VITA Clinic's lead faculty. Additionally, they must successfully pass the IRS VITA certification test.
Many students, such as Alexandra Muro, an operations supervisor at CSUN VITA, hear about VITA through their business or accounting course at CSUN.
“I first heard about VITA in my upper division accounting course,” Muro said. “I started as a tax preparer, then supervisor and then finally operations supervisor. The VITA program gave me a great opportunity to hone the lessons I was learning in my classes and apply them in real-world situations.”
Because it is run almost entirely by students, the VITA program gives taxation and accounting students the opportunity to boost their professional knowledge and skills. Such is true for Raymond Bucci, who is now working on his master’s in taxation and is a tax supervisor at CSUN VITA.
“VITA directly prepared me for the career I have right now.” said Bucci. “The experience I gain reviewing tax returns at VITA gives me unique expertise and knowledge in my career.”
Along with experience, student volunteers also receive the satisfaction of seeing the direct impact they make in the community around them.
“The VITA program is a great resource for our community,” said pre-accountancy major Zannatul Mim, a tax preparer at CSUN VITA. “People are so grateful for our services because a lot of our clients didn’t even know that a program like this existed. I’ve even told many of my own family and friends about this program and they're shocked.”
Mirian Perez, a student majoring in systems operations management, is a lead supervisor at CSUN VITA. She credits the program for motivating her to take advantage of many opportunities she did not know she had access to at CSUN.
“VITA motivated me to start networking and expanding my leadership skills,” Perez said.