NIU President John Peters, along with three other Illinois higher education representatives, met with Governor Pat Quinn last week to discuss the MAP grant funding.

“The governor was very cordial, serious and down to business,” Peters said. “He understood the severity of the issue and the critical time factor.”

Peters said the group was well-received by Quinn for two reasons. First, because of the importance of the issue. He wanted Quinn to understand that if there is no MAP money for Illinois students, then 137,000 students who currently have it have no other options.

The second reason Peters said Quinn received the presidents cordially is because of the severe timing situation.

“We need to overt a crisis. We can’t wait until January to fix this problem because students register in October and November,” Peters said. “This problem needs to be fixed before October or we are looking at a long-term situation.”

Quinn plans to meet with the presidents sometime again before the legislature October veto session. However, no date has been set. In the meantime, the governor and his staff will take time to think about the approaches he will take when he approaches legislators in October.
Peters also said the presidents are each individually talking to legislators in the district to see what can be done.

Quinn will be doing his best to introduce measures before October to try and put back $200 million in funding the MAP grant for the remainder of the fiscal year.

“We were very pleased our objectives were met, and that the governor understands and is willing to help,” Peters said.

About one-third of NIU students that receive MAP grants will not come back in the spring due to lack of funding. These students will look at community colleges or drop out altogether, Peters said.

As president, Peters said his greatest fear is that if many students leave the university, they may never come back to finish their education.

“If this is long-term, this will be a drastic impact on all post-secondary education institutions in the state,” Peters said. “Everyone will be hurt.”

In addition to Peters, the other representatives that met with Quinn included John Erwin, president of Illinois Central College representing community colleges in the state; Rev. Michael Garanzini, president of Loyola University and representing state private colleges; and Charles Middleton, President of Roosevelt University and chairman of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities. Peters represented public universities.

Peters said this meeting between the different sectors of Illinois secondary educators is a rare
occurrence, because usually different sectors never have one issue that’s so important to all of them. MAP grants go to hundreds of thousands of need-based students in the state attending any sector of higher education.

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