Montana State student volunteers help Alaskan Native communities with tax returns

BOZEMAN – For Montana State University students, Alaskan dogsledding and pro bono accounting are all in a day’s work. Just ask the graduate students who recently returned from sub-zero temperatures in the Arctic Circle to a balmy 10 degrees in Bozeman.

Lily Alexander, Mariah Ketterling and Nicholas Caiazzo, graduate students in the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, are all working toward their master’s degrees in professional accounting. The trio returned in mid-February from a nine-day trip to Alaska, where they put their knowledge to use by helping individuals in Native communities prepare tax returns.  

Before their trip, the students were already involved with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, or VITA, at MSU. In a class offered in the business college – which they all took as undergraduates – MSU students help individuals who make under $60,000 a year prepare their tax returns.  

Through a partnership with the Alaska Business Development Center, MSU students involved in VITA can help Alaska Native communities with their taxes. When they heard about the opportunity, Alexander, Caiazzo and Ketterling were excited to apply.  

The students submitted their applications to the ABDC in November and did interviews in early December. Then, they had to complete weeks of training through the ABDC and prepare over a dozen practice tax returns. Training readied them for the most complicated scenarios one could run into when doing tax work with sparse Internet and cellphone service, Ketterling said. 

The trio flew to Anchorage for additional training in-person, then stayed the night in Fairbanks before boarding a nine-seat bush plane to two remote villages to start the tax work. Because of the small plane’s weight restrictions, each student had to fit nine days of clothes and food in a bag weighing under 40 pounds. 

The team spent three days working in Fort Yukon, which has a population of around 400 people. Then they spent two days in Arctic Village, population 150. Both villages are home to the Gwich'in Alaska Native peoples.  

In total, the students prepared about 160 tax returns with just three laptops, a printer and an ethernet cable.  

“Participating in VITA, especially in a setting like Alaska, provides students with invaluable hands-on experience that extends beyond what they have learned in class,” said Gary Lui, the VITA program coordinator at MSU. “This experience helps students prepare for careers in accounting by developing their problem-solving abilities and client service skills, which are essential in the profession. It enhances their technical tax skills and fosters a deep sense of social responsibility.”  

Ketterling said the work, while challenging, felt far easier than the training. The only hiccup was almost forgetting the bag with their equipment in Fort Yukon, which Ketterling remembered just before their plane took off the runway.  

Despite the long days, where the work stretched from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the students still made time to experience Alaskan culture and adventure.  

One lunch break in Fort Yukon, the trio went dogsledding with a family they helped earlier.  

The novel experience pushed the students out of their comfort zones.  

“I was getting kind of scared and wanted to back out, just because I don’t really do stuff like this. I’m just not very adventurous in that aspect,” Ketterling said. “But it’s like, when else am I going to go dogsledding? Yeah, never. Now I can say I’ve done it.”  

The students also saw the stunning emerald spectacle of the Northern Lights, ate Mongolian moose prepared by a local resident and celebrated Valentine’s Day at the Arctic Village schoolhouse, which has just 21 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.  

Before they left, the MSU students said people were surprised they were traveling to such small, rural communities. Many Alaskans will never even travel to those remote villages, Ketterling said. But experiencing that lifestyle was eye-opening for the students.  

Alexander said they were treated with kindness, respect and hospitality. Jamela, their program leader with the Alaska Business Development Center, was from Fort Yukon and let the students stay with her grandmother instead of at the local school.  

“We just got to learn so much,” Alexander said. “We were so fortunate that Jamela was from Fort Yukon because she was able to teach us so much about their culture and their traditions.”  

Jamela’s grandmother sent the students back with jars of her homemade jam. Now back in Bozeman, the trio is putting together a “Montana care package” to send to the family as a thank you.  

“The value of accounting professionals lies in meeting the needs of people,” said Angela Woodland, a professor of accounting at MSU. “Lily, Mariah and Nick’s experience of using their professional expertise to meet the needs of underserved communities will provide a strong foundation upon which to build their professional careers.”  

The VITA work in Montana still runs until April, and the students are helping with that twice a week, too. For more information on the tax help sessions visit www.montana.edu/news/24285/montana-state-accounting-students-to-offer-free-tax-help-starting-feb-24.