Keeping Illinois on the MAP
Students showed an inspiring amount of energy, dedication and organization that won the vote to keep MAP grants.
Maraea Mason
Issue date: 10/20/09 Section: News
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The Illinois MAP, or Illinois Monetary Award Program, is a grant given to Illinois college students based on their financial needs. Nearly 270,000 students receive the MAP grant and were all at risk of losing their funding. Moreover, that meant that 1,000 of BU students were in jeopardy.
"I'll probably have to take out huge amounts of loans or attend a different university. I really like Benedictine, and I hope that I can stay," Said BU freshman, Morgan Higgins on the possibility of not receiving future grants.
Higgins was the voice of many students in the situation of possibly losing the MAP grants. Inevitably, alternatives would be to take out ridiculous amounts of money or to transfer to a less expensive college or university.
Once the bus arrived in Springfield, you could see a few hundred blue hoodies from Milliken University, a swarm of purple T-shirts, book bags, jackets and matching Keds from McKendree University, and a multitude of navy blue T-shirts from your very own BU peers to name a few.
After the rally, the horde of college students and other supporters took a five-minute walk to the State Capitol as students chanted and cheered while they waited to get inside the 19th Century French Renaissance building.
During the wait, Kent Bouillon, student at Greenville College states, "I'm down here supporting the MAP grant. It doesn't affect me, but it does affect my sister, she's a college student at Blackburn College, and we need all the help we can get."
"It affects other students at Greenville College. God forbid, if we are not successful, a third of Greenville students will be unable to attend there, so I'm down here to support that, so hopefully the governor and everyone else will overturn the decision," added Bouillon.
Students were fortunate enough to spend close to an hour with State Representative, Michael G. Connelly, who spent six years on the Village of Lisle Board. Connely said, "We proposed a Tax Amnesty program, which means, we'll take 50 cents on the dollar to get through this incredibly bad economic cycle."
That was unfortunately voted down. However, the good news is that, "the budget analyst set $115 million to get through the school year," said Connelly.
The General Assembly appropriated $205 million for next semester's MAP grants.
The hundreds of students, parents and community leaders that attended the rally showed a sense of relief when the announcement was made that the grants had been saved.
Marquis Mason, BU freshman, said, "I feel so much better, it's very relieving. I can't imagine what it would feel like if it was disapproved. I know that the population of colleges across the state would decrease drastically."
In the end, the efforts and contributions of all the people that came together to save the funds paid off and the 270,000 Illinois college students can rest easily knowing that they will be receiving financial assistance to fund their education.
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