By Mary J. Cristobal, Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — Bruce Hardaway wants to be a businessman.

The junior at Julian High School in Chicago plans to start filling out the Federal Student Aid application in September in the hopes of receiving a much-needed grant for college.

Competition among college-bound students and their families for financial assistance could further intensify, if the Illinois House Budget Committee's proposed higher education spending plan passes.

This draft for next year’s budget seeks to prevent the state's Monetary Award Program, or MAP, from awarding grants to students attending for-profit schools. 

For-profit schools operate as a business and receive public funds, according to Education.com. Among the for-profit schools is The Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago and DeVry University in Chicago. The House's proposed higher education budget, which aims to reach its $2.1 billion spending goal, also seeks to cut 1 percent in funding to universities. State Rep. Kenneth Dunkin, D-Chicago, who heads the budget committee on higher education, has said his committee found it easier to make cuts to for-profit schools, rather than deeper cuts to nonprofit schools.

Funding for community colleges, however, will not be cut and may, in fact, receive a financial bump from this proposal.

“The state of Illinois is broke,” said State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Charleston. “I think the taxpayers would think it’s outrageous that their taxpayer money is going … basically into the pockets of private, for-profit owners of some of these colleges.”

MAP provides grants to students who attend Illinois colleges.

Rose said that by eliminating MAP grants from for-profit schools, more MAP money — about $8 million — would be available to community colleges, as well as four-year, public schools and nonprofit, private universities.

John A. Logan College in Carterville enrolls more than 6,000 students every semester, and an increase in grants would benefit the students, said Steve O’Keefe, director of community relations and marketing for the college.

“What that does is it helps students in an economic situation,” he said. “For instance, we’re basically a commuter campus, so students have to drive to campus or find transportation, and they often have to find child care, so it’s a great impact on those students who receive (grants).”

About half of the students attending Black Hawk College in Moline receive some type of financial aid, said Public Relations Specialist Holly Smith. For the school’s fiscal year 2011, students received an average award of $969 in MAP grants.

High school students are relying on grants to attend Illinois colleges. 

Anissa Streeter, a senior from Julian High School in Chicago, said she decided to apply to Illinois schools, because it would be cheaper than paying out-of-state tuition.

“The grant money that would be coming in would make it easier for my mom who just got sick, so it’s going to be a weight lifted off our shoulders,” she said.

Katelyn Mendez, a junior from Oak Lawn Community High School, echoes Streeter’s sentiment.

“I’ve definitely been looking into how much the colleges are that I want to go to, and I know I’m going to need to do some FAFSA. Our family has money, but some (tuitions) are very high out there and you need that extra little bit of money,” she said.

Note: This story corrects the name of the Illinois Institute of Art, a for-profit school. The school was misidentified in an earlier version of this story.