Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Wisconsin plans to give grants to for-profit college students; Illinois plans plan to eliminate them

While Wisconsin's Republican legislators discuss legislation that make for-profit college students eligible for the state's underfunded Wisconsin Higher Education Grants, the Illinois General Assembly is poised to pass legislation that bars students at for-profit colleges in the state from receiving funds from Illlionois' main need-based grant program.

The Illinois measure, Senate Bill 1773, passed overwhelmingly in the Senate last month, but in a form that would have allowed funds to flow to students at for-profit institutions. But with lawmakers facing the need for cuts in the Monetary Award Program, leaders in the state House amended the legislation to say that the Illinois Student Aid Commission "may not make grants to applicants enrolled at for-profit institutions." "Shouldn't our priority be public higher education, which is distressed right now?" Rep. Dan Brady, a Republican legislator, told The News-Gazette of Springfield.

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