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| Loss of MAP grants hurts students who can least afford it, Millikin president says |
| Released: 9/25/2009 |
Loss of MAP grants hurts students who can least afford increased costs, Millikin president says
Decatur Herald & Review
By VALERIE WELLS - H&R Staff Writer | Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2009 11:30 pm | No Comments Posted
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DECATUR - The fact that college is expensive will come as no surprise to anyone who's attended or sent a child to one.
But for families with limited resources, and students who are the first in their family to go to college, even a small unexpected expense can mean the difference between obtaining that degree and being forced to drop out, according to higher education officials.
The state of Illinois has slashed $220 million from college funding, and the Monetary Award Program, or MAP, has been hit hard. About 145,000 students depend on the MAP grant to make college possible, and this year, application numbers rose by 22 percent, causing the application process to close earlier than ever on May 15.
Millikin University President Doug Zemke is coping with the uncertainty of whether any money will be available for students in the spring semester because 873 Millikin students, more than 40 percent of the total, receive those grants.
In July, the legislature cut MAP funds by half, but the good news, Zemke said, was that students received all their remaining funds for the first semester. The bad news is, those students don't know and might not find out until January if they're going to get any funds for the spring. Spring classes start in January, and the bills have to be sent out before that, which is when students who can't afford tuition could be forced to drop out.
"Do I go ahead and bill them for the difference in what they would have had with MAP?" Zemke said. "If we do that, I know we're going to have students who say, 'I can't come up with another $2,500 or more.' "
It's not just private colleges such as Millikin facing this problem, said David Tretter, president of The Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities.
Of college students who receive MAP grants, about 27 percent are in public universities, 27 percent in private ones and the rest in community colleges.
Most of those are first-generation college students from families who don't have the resources to take out a loan or scrape together the money to cover the shortfall if the grant doesn't come through.
With credit markets drying up due to the economy, and interest income falling so that institutions' endowment funds are suffering, nobody has any money to lend, anyway, he said.
"It's a perfect storm," he said.
vwells@herald-review.com|421-7982
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