Sample Letter from Students

Dear Representative/Senator [INSERT NAME],

As a Knox College student, I urge you to support full funding for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) for low-income students. This program is critical to making a college education affordable for me and my family.

The current budget scenario will reduce MAP Grants significantly for Knox students -- even more than at other colleges around the state.

Under the current budget scenario, I would receive only 50% of my MAP award this year. This means that I would receive a significantly smaller MAP award in the winter term and no MAP award for spring term. That is a total reduction of $2,484.

Knox has always been committed to educating students regardless of their financial means. More than two-thirds of Knox students receive need-based financial aid. A quarter of Knox students are Pell Grant eligible and nearly one in four are the first in their family to attend college. I am one of those students.

In 2008-09 I received the maximum award of $4,968. With this dramatic cut in MAP funding, I would be forced to turn to loans to make up the difference, an enormous obstacle for me and my family.

You can change that. Please urge your fellow members of the Illinois General Assembly [ILLINOIS SENATE] to fight for full funding for MAP.

Sincerely,

Your Name