Governor Pat Quinn today addressed the General Assembly on the State of the State. State Senator Ed Maloney, Chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, responded to Governor Quinn’s stress on the importance of funding MAP grants and other avenues to education funding:

“I am happy to see that Governor Quinn still holds higher education funding as a priority to the success of Illinois. To keep Illinois competitive nationally and globally, we must have an educated work force. We can only accomplish this if we provide opportunities for our youth to seek higher education. Unfortunately, we are seeing tuition costs rise excessively as funding cuts are affecting colleges and universities and this is making college affordability harder for families. We must continue to work alongside Governor Quinn in the effort to adequately fund MAP grants and similar higher education funding avenues to give opportunities for a successful future to our children.”