More than 138,000 college students will benefit from state grants next month now that the governor agreed to restore funding to the Monetary Assistance Program.
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000249 EndHTML:0000005658 StartFragment:0000002436 EndFragment:0000005622 SourceURL:file://localhost/Volumes/CD_Editorial/%2007-Editorial%202010/0710/DAILY%20WEB/State%20restores%20funding%20for%20college%20grant.doc
More than 138,000 college students will benefit from state grants next month now that the governor agreed to restore funding to the Monetary Assistance Program.
Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed legislation that increases funding to the MAP by $200 million. Senate Bill 1180 will allow Quinn to use part of his more than $1 billion in discretionary funding to make up for the MAP grant shortfall.
“It is important to our state to continue this program,” said Quinn. “After all, we (the state) believe in a culture of life, long learning.”
According to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which distributes the grant, 47 percent of MAP recipients come from households with annual incomes of less than $20,000 and 30 percent are from households that make less than $40,000 annually.
“MAP grants help ensure that all Illinois students can go to college,” said state Sen. Ed Maloney, D-18th Dist., chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. “They (college students) entered college expecting to receive this money. We need to make right on that promise.”
State Sens. Donne Trotter, D-17th Dist., Kwame Raoul, D-13th Dist, Jacqueline Collins, D-16th Dist., Toi Hutchinson, D-40th Dist. and Emil Jones III, D-14th Dist., were among the bill’s co-sponsors.
One low-income student said he depends on the state grant to help pay for tuition since it cannot be used for housing expenses, which typically is a student’s biggest cost.
“My expenses for fall semester was $14,786 and $9,200 was for housing,” said Darvin Cummings, 20, a junior at Illinois State University. “If I had relatives that lived near my college that I could stay with my expenses would be cut by more than half.”
Besides room and board, students living in residence halls also choose a meal plan that allows them to eat in the dinning halls and that is why housing is usually the highest expense, said Clark Davenport, a residence hall manager at Illinois State University in Normal.
To apply for a MAP grant, a student, or when applicable, a parent must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The application is then shared with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission which then determines if a student is eligible to receive state aid.
The maximum MAP grant is $4,968 and the minimum is $300, which is based on income and family size. The Pell grant will not be affected by state budget cuts.
This summer the budget for the MAP was slashed to $198 million from $380 million due to a $10 billion deficit the state faces. That meant needy students depending on state aid to help pay for expenses for spring semester, which typically starts in January, may have been forced to sit out a semester, transfer to a less expensive college or change their status to part-time from full-time.
About Post Author
