Ending a costly unfunded mandate on state universities in Illinois is the aim of legislation cosponsored by Senator Sam McCann to eliminate a sometimes controversial legislative scholarship program.
Senate Bill 1317 would eliminate the General Assembly Legislative Scholarships program, which allows each of Illinois’ 177 lawmakers to award two four-year tuition waivers each year to students attending public universities.
“In theory, the General Assembly Scholarship program has the admirable goal of helping students pay for a higher education. But a closer look shows that the program is a costly unfunded mandate on our public universities,” Senator McCann said. “The General Assembly does not actually pay for these tuition waivers so our state universities have to absorb the costs, which in 2009 was $13.5 million.”
Senator McCann said many lawmakers have established panels of community and education leaders to evaluate applications and select scholarship recipients; however, there have also been reports of lawmakers giving scholarships to family members, friends and supporters.
Senate Bill 1317 also has a provision that would eliminate the 50% tuition waiver for the children of all public university employees hired after the bill becomes law.
