BCU Student Reflects on
Yearlong Battle for Single Parents’ Rights  

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Briar Cliff University’s Michelle Hatfield, senior social work major, is not only book smart when it comes to changing legislation, she’s street smart, as well. Hatfield took what she learned in BCU’s Social Issues and Policy class and used it to help pass legislation for single parents who are full-time students.

Now, one year after receiving a phone call from her apartment manager, stating that she and her children no longer qualified to live there, Hatfield reflects on her yearlong battle for single parents’ rights.

A single parent herself, Hatfield spent most of last year working with several legislators to advocate for an amendment to change “the student rule” of Section 42 of the IRS tax code, which governs in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.  That amendment (S.1241) was proposed by Senator Charles Grassley, and was attached to the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, H.R. 3648. The law was signed by President Bush on December 20, 2007. As a result, single parents who are full-time students are now eligible to live in previously unavailable LIHTC rental properties. 

“My confidence comes from continuing my education at Briar Cliff and doing well there,” said Hatfield who recently was appointed as representative to the Commission on Community Action Agencies in Des Moines. “My Social Issues and Policy class with Professor Heather Craig-Oldsen taught me that I can reach our legislators. I learned that legislators are there to represent us and it is our job to let them know what is going on.”

Currently, Hatfield is finishing up a fulltime college internship through Briar Cliff at Habitat for Humanity, where she standardized the family selection interview process.

After graduating from Briar Cliff University in May with a bachelor’s degree in social work, Hatfield will continue to be an advocate and hopes to eventually work as a lobbyist. One of her long-term goals is to initiate a nationwide fundraiser that will help others afford college.

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more than 1,100 students from 26 states, Bosnia, Canada, Ecuador and Pakistan.  Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care and compassion.