The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is a temporary tax provision that provides financial assistance to taxpayers whose children (or who themselves) are attending college. The AOTC is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017, at which point Congress may allow the provision to expire, extend the provision in its current form, or extend a modified version of the AOTC. In light of increased congressional interest in reforming the tax code, policy makers may choose to consider modifying the AOTC in conjunction with other education tax benefits.1 The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that all education tax benefits for individuals cost $46.7 billion in 2014. Higher education tax credits, of which the AOTC is the largest, accounted for $24.5 billion (52%) of the total