Tens of thousands of students in our state depend on it to help pay for college. But whether they will able to continue to take advantage of it could change. It is the result of rising tuition fees, increased demand for financial aid and less money available to give out.
The Monetary Award Program Task Force spent six months reconstructing the way MAP grant funding will be prioritized. It is an effort to boost the education level of the general population and close the achievement gap.
Samaia Ahmad is one of tens of thousands of students statewide depending on a MAP grant to get through college. The junior at the University of Illinois Springfield works two jobs and gets $4,000 a year through MAP.
"So that's a quarter of my tuition, which is great," Ahmad said. Without that money, life would be different. "Probably two or three other jobs it would add, or less classes I would have to take instead," Ahmad said.
Ahmad was featured by WICS-TV 20 on January 3, 2013.