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| Increase of MAP Grant Applications -- And Rejections |
Tuition rates are on the rise at public universities across the state, and so are applications for state financial assistance. The average increase in tuition for state universities for this school year was more than 6 percent, and with more hikes on the horizon, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission expects a record number of eligible applicants for the state-funded Monetary Assistance Program next year.
That’s a jump of nearly 30 percent, says spokesman Paul Palian. He adds, however, that ISAC also expects its highest number of denied applications, which could hit 220,000. MAP grants were suspended April 19, and Palian says more than 16,000 eligible students have already been denied assistance for next year. Almost two-thirds of those are community college students.
Anastasia Bierman, a junior at McKendree University, a private school in Lebanon, says she has already been told she will not receive MAP grants this year (school year 2009-10) or next (school year 2010-11). Bierman had depended on the assistance during her freshman and sophomore years.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget keeps funding level, at around $400 million, for MAP grants, but nothing is for certain. MAP grant funding was slashed in half this year to combat the state's major budget deficit, but it was later restored. The state still owes colleges and universities more than $39 million dollars for MAP grants this year.
Palian says it is a shame that students are in need of funding more than ever, due to rising tuition rates and the economic recession, but the state is in the worst possible position to provide that assistance.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 05 14 10 by Newsroom |
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