All this week, Elmhurst College students have been tweeting, sending emails, calling and finding other ways to urge Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign legislation that would fund the Monetary Award Program (MAP), which enables more than 130,000 students from around the state to attend college in Illinois.
The Elmhurst students and other members of the College community have been taking part in #MAPMatters Week, a statewide campaign to call attention to Senate Bill (SB) 2043, which fully funds MAP grants at $397 million. Both houses in the Illinois General Assembly recently approved SB2043, but Gov. Rauner has vowed to veto it later this month.
On February 9, or Twitter Tuesday, Elmhurst students joined students from several other area colleges and universities to tweet and retweet messages to the governor to sign SB2043. On Website Wednesday, students went to the cafeteria to write to the governor on the Voice an Opinion page of the Illinois.gov website. On Telephone Thursday, students called Gov. Rauner from the College’s phon-a-thon room and on their cell phones. And on Facebook Friday, students can post messages to him using #MAPMatters.
The Monetary Award Program provides grants to Illinois residents who attend approved four-year colleges and universities and community colleges in the state, and who demonstrate financial need. More than 700 Elmhurst College students, representing nearly every major area of study, have been promised MAP grants for this academic year.
Next week, student rallies about MAP will be held in the state Capitol in Springfield and at the Thompson Center in Chicago.
If you would like to contact the Governor’s Office about MAP:
Phone: (312) 814-2121 or (217) 782-0244
Governor’s website: Voice an Opinion
Should the governor veto SB2043, students and the Elmhurst College community will be asked to urge state legislators to override the veto. If you would like to contact the legislators to let them know that MAP is critical to students pursuing higher education, please use the links below: