Senator Sullivan has decided to discontinue his participation in the Legislative Tuition Waiver Program. The Legislative Tuition Waiver Program allows each member of the General Assembly to send residents of their districts to Illinois’ public universities.
“The tuition waiver program has given an impressive group of young people the chance to go to college – a dream they might otherwise have been unable to afford,” Sullivan said. “However, given that attempts to reform the program have been unsuccessful, and state universities are struggling financially with Illinois students facing the threat of further tuition hikes, it is no longer appropriate to ask colleges to absorb the costs of an unfunded tuition waiver program,” said Sullivan.
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NEWS
From the Illinois State Senate
State Senator John Sullivan, 47th Legislative District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2012
FOR MORE INFORMATION: (217) 782-0663
Sullivan Ends Participation in Legislative Tuition Waiver Program
SPRINGFIELD, IL – State Senator John Sullivan (D-Rushville) has decided to discontinue his participation in the Legislative Tuition Waiver Program. The Legislative Tuition Waiver Program allows each member of the General Assembly to send residents of their districts to Illinois’ public universities.
Sullivan chose his recipients by using a rigorous and transparent selection process that scored applicants on a variety of factors from financial need, to leadership in extracurricular activities, to grade point averages and standardized test scores, just to mention a few. A mandatory part of each application was documentation of family income, and financial need was the most heavily weighted component in Sullivan’s scoring.
“The tuition waiver program has given an impressive group of young people the chance to go to college – a dream they might otherwise have been unable to afford,” Sullivan said. “However, given that attempts to reform the program have been unsuccessful, and state universities are struggling financially with Illinois students facing the threat of further tuition hikes, it is no longer appropriate to ask colleges to absorb the costs of an unfunded tuition waiver program,” said Sullivan.
Last May, Sullivan supported HB 1353, which would have reformed the tuition waiver program by prohibiting legislators from giving waivers to members of their families or their spouses’ families. That legislation passed both houses of the General Assembly but was vetoed by the governor.
The tuition waiver program allows each state senator and state representative to award up to eight one-year waivers each year to students attending or planning to attend a public university in Illinois. Unlike a scholarship, the waiver program does not reimburse colleges for the cost of educating recipients.
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