We Are a Stronger Illinois When We
Help More Students Afford College
Illinois families and communities are stronger when our students can afford to go to college
without bankrupting their futures by taking on crippling debt. When we help more Illinois
students afford college, we improve their ability to find good-paying jobs and strengthen our
economy by creating a stronger workforce.
Illinois’ Monetary Award Program (MAP) helps students
afford college by providing tuition assistance to those who
attend any of more than 130 Illinois colleges and
universities and demonstrate great financial need. Because
of recent cuts, the average grant size has decreased while
tuition continues to soar. Nearly 170,000 eligible students
received no assistance for the 2012-13 school year, nearly
triple the number who were denied assistance just a few
years ago. An additional 35,000 to 46,000 eligible students
could be denied assistance next year if lawmakers allow
revenue to plunge and start Illinois on its next downward slide.
To move our state forward, we need to strengthen families
and communities by making college affordable, and thus
possible, for more students.
Amanda’s Story: Monetary Award Program Helps
College Dreams Come True
Amanda is working hard to build a brighter future, thanks
in part to MAP. Growing up, her mom worked hard to create
opportunities for Amanda and her two older brothers, even
though low wages made it hard for the family to make ends
meet. Amanda and her brothers worked throughout high
school to help pay the family bills.
Amanda’s mother instilled in her the value of higher
education, but lack of money was a potential barrier to
college. Luckily, Amanda was awarded a MAP grant and was
able to enroll at the College of Lake County after she
graduated from high school. MAP was critical to putting Amanda on a road to success.
Amanda thrived in college and was awarded an academic scholarship that, along with her MAP
grant, allowed her to attend full time and totally dedicate herself to her studies. For the first time,
she was able to meet with faculty outside of regular class times and to develop hidden talents like
public speaking by participating in Speech Club and other extracurricular activities.
Without MAP assistance, Amanda said she would have thought harder about going to college in
the first place. At the very least, Amanda believes she would have had to have stayed working 30
to 40 hours a week while taking classes, making it much more difficult to make progress in getting
her degree.
MAP also played a critical role in allowing her to transfer to the University of Illinois, where she is
now in her senior year and on track to graduate this fall with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
After graduation, Amanda plans to work at a nonprofit organization to improve public policy in
Illinois.
Higher Education Critical to Our Future, But Getting Further Out of Reach
As Amanda knows, having a college education has never been more
important. It is no longer just a way to ensure higher wages, better
job satisfaction, and a steady climb up the economic ladder — it’s
becoming a basic prerequisite for most employment. Sixty-four
percent of Illinois jobs will require post-secondary education by
2018, but currently only 42 percent of working-age adults hold an
associate’s or bachelor’s degree, according to the Illinois Student
Assistance Commission.
Given the costs of higher education, students from low-income
families enroll at much lower rates than students from higher-income
families. As a result, those with less income have fewer opportunities
to move up, and Illinois faces a projected shortage of skilled workers.
Tuition help like MAP strengthens Illinois’ future by bringing college educations within reach for
more low-income students like Amanda. MAP recipients’ families earn, on average, only about
$30,000 a year. Since the late 1980s, MAP has helped at least 100,000 Illinois students a year, with
141,000 students receiving aid in the 2012-13 school year.
The majority of recipients (57 percent) are the first generation in their families to attend college.
As a result, these MAP recipients greatly improve their chances for economic success, which can
break the generational cycle of poverty. Half of children who don’t go to college and whose
parents are in the bottom 20 percent of the income range end up continuing to live in poverty
themselves as adults. But if those same children go to college, they only have a 10 percent chance
of remaining in the bottom 20 percent.
Despite its success, MAP has not kept up with skyrocketing need. Between the 2008-09 and 201213 school years, the number of eligible applications increased by nearly 120,000 (45%). Yet
funding decreased by 3 percent during that same period. As a result, funding has quickly run out
in recent years, leaving 168,595 eligible students empty handed in 2012-13. Before the Great
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Recession, the number of eligible students denied assistance due to lack of funds was less than
60,000.
“College has opened so many doors
for me. In addition to having access
to higher-paying jobs, I have
gained knowledge, enhanced my
vocabulary and writing skills, and
developed confidence.”
MAP has also been losing its power to make college attainable for more students due to the failure
of funding to keep up with tuition increases. Only a decade ago, the average grant covered 57
percent of average public university tuition and fees. In the 2013-14 school year, however, the
average grant ($3,487 a year) covered about one-quarter of average tuition and fees.
Even with MAP assistance, Amanda struggles to afford all the costs of her schooling. “I don’t buy
textbooks for my classes, because I have to pay out of pocket and they are extremely expensive. So
I go to the library and check out a book if it is on course reserve, or I just don’t have it. That
impacts my grades and learning experience,” said Amanda. “But I can’t spend $300 for a textbook
out of pocket.”
MAP At Risk Without Stable Revenue
The outlook for low-income students and MAP is even worse for the coming year. On New Year’s
Day, current income tax rates are set to automatically decrease, causing Illinois to begin losing
billions of dollars in revenue. Given the state’s balanced budget requirement, a loss of that
magnitude would dig a gigantic hole in the budget that would be virtually impossible to fill
without a new round of deep and painful cuts. If rates expire as scheduled, lawmakers would need
to cut programs like MAP by an average of 25 percent to offset the revenue losses. If the tax rate
expiration is accompanied by a final court ruling striking down a pension law passed in 2013 — as
many observers expect — average cuts would need to be 33 percent to balance the budget.1
A detailed explanation of the Fiscal Policy Center’s estimates of cuts needed to balance the budget in fiscal year
2016, which begins next July, can be found online at http://www.voices4kids.org/estimatedcuts/.
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Such cuts could result in over 45,000 students losing MAP assistance, on top of the nearly 170,000
eligible students not receiving assistance now. Rather than put Illinoisans through more
disruptive and counterproductive cuts, lawmakers should take the responsible path and provide
the resources our state needs.
By making it harder for low-income students to attend college, such cuts would weaken one of the
most important foundations for a strong economy: having a well-educated workforce. MAP is
worth the investment — and our tax dollars. For every student who gets an associate or bachelor’s
degree with MAP assistance rather than just a high school diploma, Illinois is likely to get far more
back in tax revenue due to their higher earnings. Additionally, adults with a college degree use
public assistance programs at far lower rates than those without a degree, decreasing future costs
to the state.
A Stronger Illinois Helps More Students Afford College
We are stronger when more Illinois students are able to afford college, find good-paying jobs, and
create a stronger workforce. A stronger Illinois supports financial assistance that helps more
students realize the enormous benefits of a college education.