MAP grant dollars start to flow again

Posted on April 29, 2016
Leslie Munger
Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger says her office received $164 million worth of MAP grant vouchers from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission this week. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Leslie Munger)

By FarmWeekNow/WFMB

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger has news that should be music to the ears of anxious college students who depend on Monetary Award Program grants.

Munger has revealed she received $164 million worth of MAP grant vouchers from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Munger said she turned around the payments immediately.

About 125,000 Illinois college students depend upon help from the MAP grant program to help funding their education. Munger noted the recent higher education funding deal reached between Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers isn’t a long term solution. The MAP grant funding provided by the deal only represents half of what students were promised this year.

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…