The recent flurry of news stories about how the Illinois budget impasse has forced the state to hand out IOUs to lottery winners has drawn attention away from the effect the standoff is having on higher education.
One group hit hardest by the budget crisis is some 130,000 college students whose Monetary Awards Program funding – or MAP grants -- is not yet available. That leaves some of the state’s most needy students without the funding to continue their educations.
A college education is the single most important variable in whether an individual or a family lives in poverty. A college education brings higher wages and more job stability and satisfaction. It contributes to positive outcomes for one’s children and improved health for the whole family. College graduates pay more in taxes and contribute to the economy through increased earning and spending. They are also more involved in their communities.
These students want to earn a college degree and all the benefits it affords to them. They want to better themselves, their families, their communities, and our state.
The budget impasse may feel like it’s becoming old news, but we need to put the higher education funding issue back into the news so we can urge our legislators to do what is right – to honor their funding commitment for the MAP program because it benefits not just the students themselves, but all of us.
I’m Laurie Elish-Piper, and that’s my perspective.