Keep on the MAP!

Message forwarded from Columbia's Black Student Union:

State Monetary Award Program (MAP) faces 50% "doomsday" budget cut - what will you do about it?

Let's Rally Together Friday, June 26

What: Join Columbia's Black Student Union, fellow Columbia students, and college students across the state and rally for student financial aid. The legislature and governor are about to implement a new state budget that will cut MAP grants by more than half. The result would mean smaller grants given to all students in the first semester, and all second semester grants would be wiped out completely. Together, we can challenge this decision!

Let's speak out, together - explain to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) and news media that cutting your MAP grant will impact your life.

Who: Students from Illinois independent colleges, public universities, and community colleges need your help.

When: Meet up time is Friday, June 26 at 11 a.m. The rally will take place at noon.

Where: Meet at The Court: 731 South Plymouth, Floor 1. We will take the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) blue line, together. Rally Site: UIC Student Services Building, 1200 West Harrison Street.

Immediately following the rally will be a commission meeting of the ISAC.

For more information contact rally organizer Paul Frank at 312.343.9840 or, email him at paul@federationedu.org.

Learn More About MAP

The Monetary Award Program or MAP is the state's largest need-based aid program. About half of recipients come from families with no resources to pay for college. Reducing these funds will force many students out of school and many others will be forced to scramble to obtain high cost private loans in this very difficult credit market. Each year, more than 150,000 Illinois students are able to attend private and public colleges and universities due to the state's provision of $380 million in MAP grants, and more than 60 percent of MAP recipients are continuing students. This budget would result in dramatic numbers of college dropouts due to financial inability to continue.