Illinois officials decided Thursday to reverse cuts to a scholarship program that aids thousands of needy college students, despite questions about where a broke state government will find the money.

The Illinois House and Senate voted to provide an additional $205 million for the state’s Monetary Award Program, which serves about 138,000 students. Gov. Pat Quinn supports the move.

The money will allow the state to provide scholarships next spring. Scholarships were going to be canceled because of budget cuts to the program.

Elmhurst College student Susana Gonzalez, one of the many students visiting Springfield to lobby for the money Thursday, said she was thrilled by the news. Without state aid, Gonzalez said, she couldn’t afford to continue studying to become a surgeon.

“It makes the difference of whether I can pursue my dream or have to give up,” said Gonzalez, a divorced mother of two. “I’ve been stressing about it since I first heard about it. I’ve lost sleep over it.” Robert Sorsby, NIU’s Student Association president, said he had learned on the bus back to DeKalb that the program was going to be restored.

“The whole bus was excited,” Sorsby said. “We’re just now waiting for the next step to be taken.” Sorsby was part of a delegation of about 60 NIU students who visited Springfield in an effort to lobby for the restoration. After taking a three-and-a-half hour trip there, they listened to student body presidents and other leaders speak about the importance of the MAP grant.

Sorsby and the other students then divided themselves to meet with their respective senators and legislators. Sorsby said he met with the senator from his area, James T. Meeks, D-Calumet City.

“Since we have a close relationship with our representatives in DeKalb, we reached out to get a more holistic viewpoint,” Sorbsy said.

NIU student trustee Matt Venaas, who was also present on the trip, ran into his representative (and DeKalb’s), Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley.

“I previously spoke to both of them, and I know that they have previously expressed support for the MAP grant program,” Venaas said.

While Venaas could not speak as to why the legislators approved the restoration on the day of the rally, he believes that the rally did have an impact.

“People were very impressed with the turnout, and that we had as many as we did,” Venaas said, adding that a number of students came from colleges and universities far away.

Money for the MAP program was cut in half in the budget Quinn and lawmakers approved earlier this year, a victim of cost-cutting to help close a deficit of more than $11 billion.

Lawmakers say they expected Quinn to continue providing the scholarships out of a pool of money they gave him to operate key programs. The Democratic governor says other vital needs quickly ate up all the money available, and he has traveled the state accusing lawmakers of shortchanging a vital program.

Now both sides have agreed to pay for the scholarships and figure out later where to find the money. Ultimately, that means officials will have to come up with a source of new money or cut somewhere else at a time when agencies already are making do with less and the state is deep in the red.

“This is part of our challenge. We understand that,” Quinn said, who proposes raising cigarette taxes to provide the scholarship money.

Many lawmakers complained about a budget process that first cut the scholarships and now will restore them without a clear source of revenue.

“I am sick and tired of passing appropriations here with no money,” Pritchard said.

David Tretter, president of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, called restoration of the money “pretty huge” for students. With many people out of work, there’s more demand than ever for college aid, he said, and the MAP program already had been reduced before the latest cut.

The maximum annual grant is $4,968 and only can be used for tuition and fees.

This story includes contributions from Campus Editor David Thomas.

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