The Friday Memo

              August 14, 2009
Sen. Maloney urges campaign to restore MAP funding
Funding for need-based grants falls to FY1993 level
Sen. Ed Maloney addresses IBHE meeting at DePaul University
Speaking to the Board of Higher Education and the state’s higher education community, Sen. Ed Maloney, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, urged a concerted effort among students and other stakeholders to save funding for spring semester Monetary Award Program (MAP) awards. The senator spoke at the IBHE meeting August 11 at DePaul University. MAP recipients have been notified that the FY10 state budget will permit funding of MAP grants for only the fall semester. MAP funding for fiscal 2010 will be at about the level appropriated in fiscal 1993.
NIU President John Peters said there was a “sense of urgency” to the MAP crisis because students will begin registering for the spring term in October. “We may lose a whole cohort of students,” Peters said.
IBHE Chairwoman Carrie J. Hightman said the Board would work with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to coordinate a campaign to “get the message out” about the consequences of the MAP cutbacks.
Other states – Pennsylvania, Ohio student aid in jeopardy
College students lose aid from state (The Columbus Dispatch) State budget cuts mean more debt for Ohio State University student Chris Blankenship. Blankenship, 32, a digital-media major on the Newark campus, has resigned himself to bigger student loans after the state cut about $224 million from the Ohio College Opportunity Grant, the state's top need-based grant program.
Pa. budget impasse may cut college grants (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
UPCOMING
August 14-23 Illinois State Fair, ISAC exhibit in Governor’s Tent, Springfield September 8 Newly Defined Principal Preparation, Monmouth 10 Newly Defined Principal Preparation, Oglesby
14-19 Sustainability Week, UIC 18 ISAC meeting, SIU Edwardsville Newly Defined Principal Preparation, Rantoul and Bloomington 22 College Town Summit ’09 – Controlling College-Age Alcohol Use, Executive Mansion, Springfield
And Friday Memo will be taking it easy. Look for us every other Friday. And enjoy your summer.