Budget crisis hurts students’ success

Analicia Haynes, Staff Reporter

The thought of not being able to come to school next semester makes my stomach turn with fear and anguish. 

When I found out about the impending budget crisis the only thing I could bring myself to do was curl up into a fetal position and bawl my eyes out. 

Fortunately for me, the tears dried up, and now I am royally peeved. 

Illinois Democrats and Republicans have locked horns refusing to relinquish their grip of one another and are at a standstill when it comes to figuring out what the budget will be for the 2015 fiscal year.

According to illinoispolicy.org, Democrats set an unbalanced budget leaving Governor Rauner with “no choice but to make major tax cuts”. 

Where he made these tax cuts, however, makes him public enemy number one.

Due to the lack of budget, Rauner plans to make major cuts in higher education, that means state grants including the MAP (Monetary Award Program) Grant will are at risk of being cut. 

According to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), More than 140,000 students receive this grant. 

Those 140,000 plus students are in dire need of financial assistance because without it they absolutely can’t afford higher education. 

I should know, I am one of those students. 

I was told from the commencement of my college searches that a grant or scholarships were monetary values that required no payment of any kind from the student. 

However, because there is no state budget students are left with “no other choice” but to pay this money back by either working until they drop or signing their soul away to yet another loan in order to stay in school. 

How is it that students are left to carry such a deceitful burden due to a Governments incompetency to create a stable, balanced budget?

Despite the crisis at hand, it seems as though state officials still refuse to meet somewhere in the middle and therefore refuse to help the future of America.

It frightens me that state officials truly believe cutting spending in higher education especially the map grant will truly help in the long run. 

Wake up Illinois!

You are only hindering the college student’s chances of becoming what this state and country need; an enlightened citizen who can reintroduce prosperity to this land. 

Everything has a cause and an effect. 

If you take away the grant you take away the chance for someone to graduate and go on to change the world.

Talk about the budget is spreading like wildfire across campus, filling ears and entering mindsets. 

However, the only way to prevent the possibility of living a life plagued with debt is to speak up about the crisis rather than share the dilemma with your peers.

Write to your congressman; better yet write to the governor. 

Believe it or not our voices matter and it has been proven time and time again that the louder we speak up the better chance our voices will be heard and the closer we are to reform. 

Let us help Illinois do their job and take back our education.

Analicia Haynes is a freshman journalism major. She can be reached at [email protected] or 581-2812.