Governor Quinn Statement on House Vote to Abolish Legislative Scholarships

SPRINGFIELD – May 21, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today issued the following statement regarding the Illinois House’ concurrence with passage of HB 3810, which finally ends the troubled General Assembly tuition waiver program.

“Today is a good day for deserving students in financial need, and a good day for the taxpayers of Illinois.“There is no place for a political scholarship program in Illinois. As I have repeatedly advocated – scholarships, paid for by Illinois taxpayers – should be awarded only to those with merit who are in true financial need. Abolishing this program is the right thing to do.

“Thank you Leader Christine Radogno for your leadership on this issue. Thank you President John Cullerton for your move to abolish this program. And thank you, Speaker Michael Madigan, Leader Tom Cross and members of the House and Senate who voted to do the right thing and pass this long-overdue ethics reform. We need more bipartisan progress like this in the next 10 days to get big things done for the people of Illinois.
“I look forward to signing this legislation and focusing resources on programs that help needy, deserving students attend college.”