The Illinois General Assembly has cut MAP funding in half. The state’s budget crunch may be responsible for such a large cut in the Monetary Award Program, but there’s no solution to be found for over 5,000 NIU students who received MAP grants for the fall semester, and won’t be getting the financial help MAP grants provide in the spring.

Many students rely on these grants to help pay their college tuitions, and may have to rethink returning to school without the tuition boost that MAP funding usually provides.

If NIU suddenly lost a large population of students, the tuition and fees could increase to the point that many students would need additional funds to afford the cost of NIU. To assist their expenses, they might turn to MAP grants and scholarships but with such a low budget, those students may no longer be able to attend NIU either.

This becomes a circular problem, with not enough students enrolled to keep tuition down and more and more potential students unable to afford higher education, tuition will increase with not enough options for financial aid. Monetary Award Program’s grants and scholarships are not just awarded to NIU students; MAP is a statewide program.

There is obviously no simple solution to the economic problems the State of Illinois is facing, but making a move that will undoubtedly cause enrollment numbers to drop again will do nothing but hurt NIU and other public universities in the state that rely on MAP grants to help their students pay tuition.

These funds facilitate the higher education cycle too dramatically to be cut at such a drastic rate. While at first, cutting such a big chunk of money from the budget seems like a great way to start saving, the negative effects will resonate throughout the public higher education system in Illinois.

This decision will not save money, instead losing a far greater amount than what was originally intended to save.

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