After researching Argentina’s program, Asignación Universal por hijo para protección social, I decided to further investigate the United States programs and benefits offered for education enrollment. To my surprise, I discovered that there are no tax credits for high school and elementary school children.

After researching Argentina’s program, Asignación Universal por hijo para protección social, I decided to further investigate the United States programs and benefits offered for education enrollment. To my surprise, I discovered that there are no tax credits for high school and elementary school children. Tax benefits for paying educational costs for yourself, or for another student who is a member of your immediate family apply only to higher education. The United States education system for elementary and secondary schooling is mainly provided by the public sector from three levels of government including federal, state, and local. School is compulsory for all children, usually beginning at the age of 5 or 6 with elementary school, continuing through middle school, and ending with high school at the age of 18. Some states allow students to dropout between the ages of 14 and 17 before finishing high school, while other states require children to stay in school until 18 years of age.

Due to the fact that a large portion of school revenues come from local property taxes, public schools vary widely in the resources they have available per student, as well as regulations per district. For the most part, school curricula, funding, teaching, employment, and other policies are decided through locally elected school boards with jurisdiction over school districts, while education standards and educational financing is decided by the state governments. Even though the government offers no tax-deduction to families with elementary or high school students, there are a few loop holes. One option could be the recipient of a tax-deductable via charitable contributions to the school. Otherwise, families are persuaded to encourage their children to attend a college or university of higher education, receiving numerous opportunities of tax credits, benefits, or deductions. Two of the most common tax credits received would be the Hope Learning Credit, and the Lifetime Learning Credit. The Hope Credit is worth up to $1,500 for a student’s first two years of higher education if you spend $2,000 or more on tuition fees. As for the Lifetime Learning Tax credit, a student may receive up to $2,000.

Many people can take advantage of this tax credit as long as they are enrolled and attending at least one college course. The tax credit can be claimed for anyone on your tax return, including yourself, spouse, or children, whether they are returning to school to learn a new language, advance their career, or simply to explore a favorite subject. The United States also provides students with the opportunity to apply to many different scholarships, fellowships, need-based education grants, and qualified tuition reduction in order to promote higher education and make it more affordable for more people. When comparing the two strategies of Argentina and the United States, I feel that both governments are working towards stressing the importance of education and enrollment. The program, Asignación Universal por hijo para protección social, is focused on motivating unemployed or unregistered families to continue to send their children to school. It seems that the United States does not offer this genre of people much compensation or motivation to continue education. The United States has focused all benefits or tax cuts on students of higher education. After further investigation, it would be interesting to see how Argentina’s newly enforced program for child allowances, will effect child enrollment into schools. It is a program that the United States should begin considering and discussing for its unemployed families with children.