Economic Stimulus Bill Part 2

"American Opportunity" Tax Credit
This new bill would offer more funding for education grants. It does so by expanding the current Hope education tax credit. Currently worth a maximum credit of $1,800 for students in their first two years of college education, the new bill would expand this maximum to $2,500. It would also expand the list of qualifying expenses to include text books (currently only tuition is a qualifying expense), and it would make 40% of the tax credit refundable, meaning this amount could be refunded to the taxpayer if their tax liability was reduced to zero by using various tax credits. Furthermore, the new bill would ask the Treasury Department to "conduct a study" to see if the government could require community service as a condition for being eligible for these tax breaks for higher education.