<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>
College</a> Zone - ISAC Gift Assistance Programs</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
Community</a> College Legislative Database - Center for the Study of Educational Policy</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>