As a graduate of Knox College, I urge you to support full funding for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) for needy students. This program provides tuition assistance for Illinois low-income students. The current budget stands to reduce MAP grants significantly for Knox's neediest students.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) recently notified all Illinois colleges and universities that under the present budget, students will receive their fall term MAP grants this year, 50% reduction in their winter term MAP grants, and no funding at all for their spring term. That is a total reduction of $2,484 for each Knox student receiving a MAP grant.
Knox has always been committed to educating students regardless of their financial means. More than two-thirds of Knox students receive need-based financial aid. A quarter of Knox students are Pell Grant eligible, and nearly one in four are the first in their family to attend college. These are students who have high potential, solid academic backgrounds, and a keen desire to learn -- but have few financial resources. They are the very students who will be hit hardest by the MAP grant reduction.
Currently, more than 250 Knox students receive MAP awards, and all receive the maximum award of $4,968. With this dramatic cut in MAP funding, many students would be forced to significantly increase their borrowing. In this difficult economy, this cut creates an enormous obstacle to families trying to send their children to college.
You can change that. Please urge your fellow members of the Illinois General Assembly [ILLINOIS SENATE] to fight for full funding for MAP.
