Friday's Deadline For State Financial Aid Marks Earliest Cut-Off In History

By Anna Deem in News on Mar 20, 2011 7:00PM

If you're still waiting to apply for financial aid for college, you might want to get yourself in gear because the deadline is this coming Friday--making it the earliest cut-off for state aid ever. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission informed school administrators on Saturday that the deadline to receive grants from the state's Monetary Award Program is also on Friday.

Although the deadline hasn't been reached, state officials said via the Chicago Sun-Times that they had to stop taking applications for grants because the demand has outweighed the amount of money available--130,000 applications have been submitted so far. ISAC Executive Director Andy Davis did note that the state would allow as many as 150,000 grants for the upcoming school year, an increase from the 130,000 that were handed out last year. Close to 140,000 students were also denied aid last year, and a similar figure could potentially be denied again.

If you're a state resident attending a school in Illinois, you're eligible to apply. Fill out the free application for Federal Student Aid at fafsa.ed.gov. Even when the deadline passes, students should still log-on and apply because they could qualify for federal or other types of financial assistance.