Certain student loan interest rates are set to double, from 3.4 percent
to 6.8 percent, come July 1. The rate hike could potentially cost millions of people who
rely on college financial assistance an additional $1,000 each school year.
The added cost is too much for some students to bear, said U.S. Rep. Tammy
Duckworth (D, IL-8) at a college affordability roundtable discussion Thursday.
“I remember what that was like as a student, when I was
counting down to the last five bucks that I had until my next check
came,” she said at the discussion, held at the College of DuPage (COD). Read more »
The Illinois Senate voted today to ban the maligned legislative scholarship program, for which state lawmakers award scholarships to students in their district that attend an Illinois public university.
The bill passed 43-5, with five Senators voting ‘present’. The bill should just as easily clear the House and swiftly be signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn.
The office of Illinois Senate President John Cullerton – the most
powerful person in Springfield opposed to banning legislative
scholarships – says the legislator won’t stand in the way of a vote on
the tuition waiver ban.
“Like any other bill, it will go through
the normal committee process and there will be an opportunity for a
vote,” says Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon. Phelon’s comments
follow reports that the Senate President may work to prevent the bill from getting a vote. Read more »
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, House Speaker Mike Madigan, and House Republican leader Tom Cross are among the elected officials who used a special admissions track to get applicants into the University of Illinois.
A new report about colleges and universities in the Midwest comes as public institutions of higher ed in Illinois continue to grapple with the state budget crisis and mull -- or approve -- new tuition hikes.
Certain student loan interest rates are set to double, from 3.4 percent
to 6.8 percent, come July 1. The rate hike could potentially cost millions of people who
rely on college financial assistance an additional $1,000 each school year.
The Illinois Senate voted today to ban the maligned legislative scholarship program, for which state lawmakers award scholarships to students in their district that attend an Illinois public university. 
