CARTERVILLE - John A. Logan College President Robert Mees said Wednesday that more than 30 employees' jobs could be affected at the college if there is indeed a funding shortage from the state legislature.

Cuts could occur specifically in the adult education and regional child care programs.

"If the legislature can't come up with the necessary funding, we have identified positions that could be eliminated over the next few months," Mees said. "The administration and board are very concerned over these developments and how they would impact not only our staff and their families but also the people in our area who are trying to get trained and back into the workforce who need these services that we currently provide."

Mees said such drastic cuts are necessary if funding levels are half or less than what they once were.

"And if there are state funding cuts, that means that we could lose out on federal matching dollars. We definitely don't want that to happen. If you lose federal monies, you may never get them back."

Mees said there could also be significant cuts in student financial aid and veterans programs beginning this fall.

Illinois Veterans and National Guard grant monies, for example, could drop by as much as $200,000 this next fiscal year.

Sherry Summary, director of the office of student financial assistance, said if the state budget is not revised, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission has announced that it could only fund Monetary Award Program grants this fall semester and that the maximum award would be reduced by about 17 percent.

No grant monies would be available for the spring semester.

Moreover, she said, Logan is "not in a good position" to replace the MAP grant funds for the more than 1,350 students who are recipients of the award.

"The good news is that this has not happened yet," Summary said. "The governor and four leaders of the General Assembly continue to work on a more realistic budget and we are actively engaged in advocating for full funding for MAP."

John D. Homan is public information officer at John A. Logan College.

Details

Projected impact of a less than fully funded budget on John A. Logan College include:

l More than 30 Logan employees' jobs could be affected in adult education and child care departments

l Student financial aid funding would be affected

l Veterans grant monies would be affected

l Federal matching funds could be lost