The SHAM of Illinois MAP Grants

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>I wanted to make everyone who looks at this site aware of the issues that I encountered when looking at obtaining state grants within the state of Illinois.</p>

<p>This all started when my son (he also has a twin sister) obtained his financial aid package from the University of Illinois. </p>

<p>I could not understand why with estimated in state tuition and fees (2008) for Engineering at $16,400 and a Fafsa EFC of 8500, he would not qualify for an Illinois State MAP grant. </p>

<p>I contacted Financial Aid at Uof I and they said that entering the fafsa figures within their calculate, it indicates that he is not eligible. They could offer no other explanation. I indicated that the map grant is based upon need and also based upon only the tuition and fees. I questioned them why a need of $7,900 ($16,400 - $8,500) is not enough. Again no answer.</p>

<p>I then contacted the people at Collegezone.com who manages the Illinois Map grant, and after numerous calls, I still could not understand why my son could not get a map grant.</p>

<p>After Google searching, I located the forms for manual calculation of the Map grant.
It is located at<br>
<a href="http://www.collegezone.com/giftassist/753_9790.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.collegezone.com/giftassist/753_9790.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The form is called "Illinois Student Assistance Commission 2008-2009 Monetary Award Program Dependent Student Start-up Annual Award Hand Calculation Form"</p>

<p>This is where I discovered the SHAM that is happening within the state of Illinois for this grant.</p>

<p>There are (2) critical points on this form that make my blood boil.</p>

<p>The first is in Box E- One may think that an EFC of for example $8700 is what the aid is based upon.</p>

<p>WRONG.</p>

<p>The people at ISAC have included an adjustment multiplier factor which for $8700 comes out to x1.8. After multiplying that factor against the Fafsa EFC, the new Illinois based EFC is now at $16,335</p>

<p>Wait- It gets better</p>

<p>Now when calculating the actual Map eligibility in Box E where you enter in the tuition, one would think that they are basing the 2008 MAP amount on 2008 tuition and fees!</p>

<p>WRONG Again.</p>

<p>They are using tuition and fees based upon the 2003/2004 school year not the upcoming year.</p>

<p>To make matters even worse, at U of I which has different tuition fees based upon college, they are using the base tuition amount only. (I verified this by a manager at the financial aid office)</p>

<p>SO- all of you people who are complaining about funding- this is what is happening.</p>

<p>I would suggest anyone who resides within the State of Illinois who is reading this to write a letter of complaint to your local state representative.</p>

<p>I would also suggest some good reading of a study document done by the Center for the Study of Education Policy in Illinois.<br>
It was a funded study to determine why nearly 20,000 students leave Illinois to attend colleges out of state.
DA!!<br>
You can find the document here
<a href="http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/eafdept/centerforedpolicy/initiatives/migrationstudy.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/eafdept/centerforedpolicy/initiatives/migrationstudy.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This is exactly why. My twins can go to major out of state universities at much much less cost than in state universities.</p>

2

<p>I too have twins in college - 4th year - and as a single mom have taken out the Parent Plus loan every year, as well as co-sign other loans for the twins and live on a tight budget to help pay additional costs that always seem to pop up. This year my twins are not eligible for the MAP grant. I, as a single mom, made too much money which is defintely no way near 6 figures!! My son will be going to college in a year as well...I have no idea how we are going to do this. Hillary and Barack need to think about serious tuition breaks not silly 'one-tank of gas' tax breaks. This is ridiculous..........but I really appreciate the info/research you did - very helpful.</p>

3

<p>The state of Illinois is broke.</p>

4

<p>As are many other states, including California. Look, I'm sure every college student out there would love to get tons of financial aid and smaller tuition increases, but states are struggling with their tax revenue just as much as families are. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but many families will just have to suck it up and either pay, take on loans, or choose a cheaper school.</p>

5

<p>This is also why I turned down U of I as an OOS student. They were the only school I was accepted to that did not offer me a scholarship, and they would have turned out to be $12,000 more expensive than the University of Miami, one of the most expensive private universities in the country. (UM gave me a 50% scholarship, so that brought it below U of I.) I ended up going to a state school instead. It still just wasn't worth the money for either of them, but U of I was the most ridiculous. Who would have thunk it that a PUBLIC school would be my most expensive option for college?</p>

6

<p>I turned down U of I instate because of the ridiculous costs. The problem is that the Dems have literally owned and operated Illinois for so long that there is no realistic political competition, and therefore no incentive to perform so as not to lose their jobs. Terrible leadership at the helm is responsible for this fiscal crisis, especially Blago's grand screw-ups</p>

7

<p>Don't blame dems for mishandling colleges. You only need to look at Florida to witness the disaster currently going on here after an 8-year rule by Jeb Bush. This is the second year straight Florida colleges are having their budgets' cut. FSU cut their freshman enrollment by 4,000 this year. UF plans to do the same. Other schools are considering turning down their air conditioning, a very big deal here in FL.</p>

8

<p>although i realize the point of your argument was not to blame any particular party, i do have to agree with the dems being to blame for illinois. chicago is a dem-ruled city (and has been for forever) and one of the most corrupt cities i know (having been born and raised there). blagojevich insists on raising his and other reps and senators pay even though he is cutting healthcare and school funding.
so that might be one reason for u of i, but then again, who really knows.</p>

<p>not to mention illinois just wants to be very greedy as a whole.</p>

9

<p>I agree, UIUC tends to be VERY stingy with financial aid as well as merit aid. This does not bode well for attracting top students.</p>

10

<p>With two kids in college in the fall of 2008, UIUC offered us basically no financial aid - my second son will be attending Notre Dame in the fall as they offered him a very healthy financial aid package. It is cheaper for him to attend ND (tuition and all = $49,000) than for him to attend UIUC (tuition and all = $28,000). What a sad commentary for a state school.</p>

11

<p>Hm. I'm pretty happy with my FinAid, but then again the ridiculously low EFC (3000ish) worked in my favor. I never knew U of I was this stingy with their aid to other people though! My sympathies, truly.</p>