The fate of the Monetary Award Program grant will be decided by the General Assembly at the end of next month, but Eastern is not waiting until then to make plans to help students pay for school in the spring.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that the MAP grant will be fully restored for the spring 2010 semester,” said Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs. “In the event that it is not, we are looking at institutional and external resources.”

The university is looking to extend its work-study program for the spring to help some of the students currently receiving MAP grants.

“We’d be losing $4.8 million in MAP funding,” said President Bill Perry. “We don’t have anything like that.”

Perry estimated one in eight students receiving MAP funds would get help from the expanded work-study initiative.

Exactly where the money will come from is still up in the air as well.

“We have a bunch of vacant positions every year, so we have salary savings we could use as a one-time thing,” Perry said.

The program will likely be funded from multiple sources.

“It’s normal and usual for a university to make an appeal to donors at the end of the year,” Perry said. “This could be the focus of our year-end appeal. It will put an emphasis on student need.”

The expansion should not affect the positions of current on-campus workers.

Nadler said, “We would be looking to expand the number of student employment opportunities available at Eastern. Students are involved in nearly every operation and service throughout the university.”

Many of the jobs would be within the different academic departments and would include filing, reception and general office work.

Final decisions, including exactly how many students will get assistance through the program, will not be made until after the General Assembly votes on restoring the MAP grant. Financial Aid Director Jerry Donna said eligible students would be identified and offered additional work-study.

Until the vote, Eastern and other universities across the state are working to raise awareness of the situation and fighting to keep the grant.

“We’re mobilized, so hopefully we’ll make a difference,” Donna said. “If the funding doesn’t come through, the panic is going to hit in November. It won’t be a pretty November.”

Sarah Ruholl can be reached

at 581-7942 or seruholl2@eiu.edu.