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What's more, under the state budget compromise reached earlier this month... no student at any Illinois school will receive aid for the second half of the 2009-2010 school year.
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<p>130,000</a> Illinois college students denied financial aid :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: News</p>
<p>Kind of a reverse stimulus package for higher ed...</p>
<p>Yeah, my Illinois MAP grant for spring was reversed. That’s $2500, folks.</p>
<p>The Chicago Sun Times, Illinois colleges and colleges with student from Illinois should print out Jay Mathew’s contact #s. He should be getting a lot of calls.</p>
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<p>Quoted for truth.</p>
<p>Wow, that is shocking.</p>
<p>$2500 is not much to ask. As a college student in the mid 1980s, I had a job in the school cafeteria during the school year ($50/week plus free meals), and worked 80 hours/week in the summer time (@ $3.50/hr). What ever happened to self-sufficiency, folks?</p>
<p>jamescchen, many students might already be working on top of their grants, have their loans maxed out and may not be able to stretch the extra money. Just a thought.</p>
<p>^^^not to mention, school is much more expensive (adjusted for inflation) than it was in the 80’s.</p>
<p>College costs relative to minimum wage jobs are much higher than in the 80’s.</p>
<p>I’m assuming this is just for public schools, correct? I mean, they couldn’t force endowed colleges like Northwestern, Depaul, or UChicago to deny financial aid.</p>
<p>MAP grants are available to public or private. If the Northwestern or Chicago student had a MAP grant, they lost it.</p>
<p>The aid denied is only State MAP grant. Nothing to do with federal aid or any institutional aid. (though they carefully don’t bother to mention this until near the end of the article).</p>
<p>It’s $2500, folks. Not $25,000 or $250,000. The article mentions that community college and returning students will be affected the most. Most of these people have prior work experience, so they’re not helpless. It means saving or working a bit more. I think most working people can handle it.</p>
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<p>No I’m assuming not a complete denial of finaid, but probably a decline. This is not surprising to me as I go to college in California, where the Budget crisis is R.I.P. In general a crisis like this would mean that delays will certainly be the most important hindrance in sorting out tuition and other fees.</p>
<p>jamescchen: I am already working 30 hours a week, thank you very much. I have an apartment to pay rent for (no aid on that and dorms are 30% more expensive than living on your own), grocery costs, books to buy, and parents who are trying to not drown in debt because our two small businesses are failing. $2500 is a LOT of money for me, since I only make about $3000 the entire school year from wages. ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps indeed’, try being in my shoes for a semester or two and then tell me what a big deal this is.</p>
<p>Edit: And this isn’t $2500 in good financial times either. Wake up, we’re in a recession!</p>
<p>Wonder what the state budget crunch means for OOS students? Illinois was generous with with grants for my older S…reducing his tuition to in-state levels.</p>
<p>MissSilver, my heart goes out to you and others who put togethor packages of work/fed aid/anything else. I know most people have no fat in their budgets and that there arent a lot of jobs right now.</p>
<p>Well, MissSilvestris, jamescchen obviously knows better than you do you aren’t working hard enough already. I mean, if $2,500 is nothing for him, why should it be an issue for you?</p>
<p>That was sarcasm, btw. At least an attempt, anyway. I sympathize with your situation. If someone told me we were going to have to cover another $2,500 in college costs right now, that could be the difference in whether I go to school or not.</p>
<p>Thank you kayf and collegebound91 for your sympathy. I’m sure we’ll be able to manage, though I feel very, very badly for those worse off than myself. Hopefully this will be fixed somehow.</p>
<p>This is pretty shocking as a U of I student. Now most of my summer earnings will have to go to pay for the gap in my spring semester. I thought it was only California that had all the financial pains in funding higher education. With Lincoln Hall renovation and the school building a new ECE building (among other construction plans), I didn’t think the state was short on cash.</p>
<p>I still feel remarkably lucky, since community college kids are going to be the ones who’ll feel the brunt of this ****e.</p>