Comptroller takes immediate action to alleviate hardship.

Illinois State Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger issued the following statement Thursday regarding student Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants:

"Today, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission sent $164 million in MAP Grant vouchers to my office and we turned around the payments immediately. As a result, colleges and universities will receive payment to assist the 125,000 college students who rely upon that funding to further their education. Our students have suffered unacceptable hardship due to this budget impasse and it is my priority to provide relief however possible.

But this is not a long term solution. In fact, the MAP Grant funding that was signed into law earlier this week covers only half of what students were promised this year. I applaud the General Assembly and Governor for a strong first step, but it is critical that they now finish the job and pass a comprehensive balanced budget that allows us to keep our promises not only to students, but also to social service providers, schools, businesses and others that are serving taxpayers across our state."

On the heels of the Senate’s override of the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 2043, House Republicans from across Illinois joined together to reiterate their willingness to compromise and arrive at a responsible solution to fund Illinois’ higher educational community.

“Today’s veto override in the Senate is unfortunate given we’re all here today to reiterate our willingness to compromise on this issue to bring about a reasonable solution,” said State Representative Dan Brady (R-Normal), who serves as the Minority Spokesman on the House Higher Education-Appropriations Committee.  “We can’t continue down the road of calling adversarial votes that don’t benefit students or universities.  It will only further the divide in Springfield.”