SingleStop provides tax help on campus

Financial coaching and legal advice are also available through program

By Jen Houghton
The Guardsman

SingleStop USA, a nonprofit program dedicated to providing constructive services to students and low-income families, has reached City College Ocean campus.

“There has been a strong response from students and the City College community that there is a need for SingleStop,” Associate Dean of Financial Aid Roland Montemayor said. “Especially at a time when students don’t have a lot of resources.”

SingleStop provides free tax preparation, benefit screening, financial coaching and legal advice for students, full or part time. City College counselor Murrell Green is the acting liaison between students and SingleStop services.

“This isn’t about sales,” Green said. “This is for students that want to seek out the services that we provide. College is about becoming responsible.”

Free tax preparation through SingleStop is available to the public, but students will take priority.

To be eligible for free tax preparation provided by volunteers from the Bay Area nonprofit Tax Aid, students must have made less than $52,000 in the previous year and be able to provide photo identification, a social security card and basic landlord information.

Tax preparation is available by appointment in the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in the Student Union Building until April 15, and students must bring any forms they will need in order to file, such as a 1099-MISC, W2 or 1040EZ.

Green walks students through benefit screening using an online software program with a database of local, state and federal benefits to find those that can be used to supplement a student’s income. Once a student’s information, such as household size, income and savings is entered, the program provides a list of possible benefits available including food stamps, health care and tax credits.

“It literally takes about ten minutes, at the most, to put in the demographic and income information,” Green said.

If a student wishes to pursue a benefit, Green will aid them in filling out the appropriate application forms.

Screening is available by appointment at the CalWORKS Education and Training office in Bungalow 615.

Students can receive valuable advice on budgeting, debt management, the benefits of banking, and understanding and improving their credit scores through SingleStop’s free financial coaching service. The service is adapted to each student’s needs and is expected to aid those both unfamiliar and experienced with finance.

“Financial coaching doesn’t have the biggest need, compared to tax preparation, but I think it will definitely be the most popular service,” Green said.

Weekly finance workshops are held at the CalWORKS office Tuesdays from 2 to 3 p.m. Students can meet with a financial coach — two Charles Schwab volunteers and one volunteer from Mission SF, a local credit union — by appointment at the CalWORKS office Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m.

Students seeking free legal advice can contact Green for a referral to a volunteer from Bay Area Legal Aid. “I’ve already had some students contact me about criminal cases, but most will be civil cases,” Green said.

Students can determine if they’re in need of legal advising by filling out a ten question survey. Questions address issues including tenants’ rights, medical care and bills, divorce or custody issues and immigration status.

City College student Dan Carlin, 28, sees the value in free legal advice.

“The other three sound like luxuries,” he said. “But legal advice could be extremely important to someone’s life and people don’t necessarily have the money for that — we’re students,” he said.

Volunteers operate off campus, but most advice will be through telephone or e-mail and not require a face-to-face meeting.

This is the fifth California location for SingleStop and Green believes that, with its broad demographic, Ocean campus will be their busiest location.

“Our range here is probably beyond the scope of anything they’ve seen before,” he said. “SingleStop seems to have a vested interest. This is bigger than anything they’ve tackled.”

Tax preparation and financial coaching is currently available at the Mission campus and there are plans to have a part time SingleStop liaison there before the end of March 2010.

“There is something for everybody,” Montemayor said. “No matter where you are as a student, there will be a service you can benefit from.”

All services are available immediately.

For all appointments, call Murrell Green 415-452-5700. For questions or comments, e-mail him at mgreen@ccsf.edu or visit the CalWORKS office at Bungalow 615.