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New Money in State Budget for Higher Education

Governor Pritzker, with Lauren Rogan, Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati, RI Mayor Mike Thoms, BHC Pres. Tim Wynes.
Governor Pritzker, with Lauren Rogan, Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati, RI Mayor Mike Thoms, BHC Pres. Tim Wynes.

More money in the new state budget for higher education will mean more students can graduate with few if any debts. That was the message Tuesday in the Quad Cities from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Recent BHC graduate Lauren Rogan
WVIK News
Recent BHC graduate Lauren Rogan

At Black Hawk College in Moline he said millions of new dollars in the budget just approved by the General Assembly will help low, moderate, and middle income families.

"Students now can get a college education in Illinois without being strapped with debt for the rest of their lives. That's very different than it was just five or six years ago."

The new budget raises MAP grants, the monetary award program, by 100 million dollars, to more than 750 million.

Recent Black Hawk granduate, Lauren Rogan from Milan, says cost was a major concern when she decided to go to college.

"I wanted to continue my education without ending up with massive debt. As someone who lived paycheck to paycheck, I wanted my education to increase my career opportunities but was concerned about ending up with debt that would make everything harder."

A MAP grant allowed her to pay for tuition, and only have to work part-time instead of full-time, while going to Black Hawk. She plans to attend the University of Illinois-Springfield in the fall, also with a MAP grant.

WVIK News