College Students Feel the Pinch of No State Budget

Without a state budget funding grants and scholarship programs, many college students are faced with the question of why they’d continue their education in Illinois.

Mercedez Jones is 19 and about to graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She’s a MAP grant recipient who questions why she’d want to go on to law school in Illinois, if the state isn’t going to prioritize higher education during the ongoing budget impasse.

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Illinois has been promising young people financial assistance from the state government to go to college.

Except for this year.

With no state budget, many of Illinois’ college students can’t be sure that the money will still be there. Universities are covering the costs of those scholarships for now.

Mercedez Jones is one of the students in financial limbo at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The whole thing is making her wonder if she even wants to stay in Illinois.

Jones talked with WBEZ’s Tony Arnold for our series “Caught in the Middle.”

We welcome your stories for this series. You can email us at caughtinthemiddle@wbez.org. Be sure to include your name and contact information.

Tony Arnold is a reporter for WBEZ. Follow him @tonyjarnold