Peoria Standard

State Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is happy to see state university officials making the attempt to expand their reach.

“I am very encouraged to hear our universities speaking about retention,” Hammond told AIM HIGH’s Corey Bradford at a recent House Appropriations Higher Education Committee hearing. “For so many years it was about recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. And the retention end of it was never really addressed. I think that kudos to you and those who have seen that it's not just important to get the students in the front door but to send them back out the door with a degree is extremely important, so thank you for that.”

Bradford later told lawmakers AIM is now offering awards of up to $6,000 to per year for students who arrive on campus with a high school GPA of at least 3.5 and $4,000 per year for students that carry a GPA anywhere from a 2.75 up to a 3.5.

Given AIM’s high success rate, Hammond later asked Bradford how program officials let students know about the program.

“We definitely promoted through the high schools, it's included in our recruitment material to all students and parents,” Bradford said. “We utilize testimonies of recipients to share their stories and how they benefited from the scholarship program. We have a very high demand for that program. We don’t have enough scholarships for the number of students that want to benefit from that program so that's why we are definitely encouraging that we make this a permanent commitment for the state because it is working.”

The number of grants offered through the AIM HIGH program along with the dollar amount awarded are subject to appropriations by the Illinois General Assembly and the governor. Students applying for the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program and/or for the matching funding must file the FAFSA.

Ultimately, ISAC determines the amount of AIM HIGH grant funding that will be made available to each public university.