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Joined by Governor Pat Quinn, hundreds of Illinois college students gathered at Bradley University and the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale campus on October 7th demanding full reinstatement of the Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant. The grant has financed student education in Illinois for over 40 years. SIU President Glenn Poshard and Chancellor Sam Goldman also came to show their support.

The Illinois legislature made dramatic cuts to the program during the last legislative session.  Without additional funds, students will stop receiving MAP grants for the spring semester.  The program faces a loss of $200 million with the remaining funds expected to run out by January 2010.
           
Rally participants demanded that the Illinois General Assembly work with Governor Quinn to restore the full funding for the MAP grant, which provides aid annually for 138,000 eligible Illinois students.  The issue is set to be addressed in the General Assembly veto session to be held Oct. 14-16 and Oct. 28-30.
 
“I am faced with the possibility of having to give up my dream because my state legislator has already given up on me and thousands of others like me,” said SIU Senior Carina Beck. Beck used the MAP grant to help herself get out of a homeless shelter and into college.

According to BU Senior Barry Draper, who has received a MAP grant for each of his years at the University, the sudden loss of the MAP funds will prevent many students like him from being able to attend Bradley in the spring. Governor Quinn said that at SIUC, the cut would mean 5,000 students would be unable to pay tuition this spring.
 
"If they were telling us for next year, it might be different,” said Draper. “But, now, they are robbing us at the last minute.”

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