State Senator Emil Jones III, (D-Chicago) recently introduced legislation that helps college students who are facing financial hardships. The measure, Senate Bill 2941, prohibits universities and community colleges from denying a student from registering for classes and prohibits them from refusing to issue a transcript to a student because of and outstanding debt owed to the university.

Senator Jones offered the following comments:

“Currently, our governor’s inaction on the budget has forced over 150,000 students out of Monetary Awards Programs (MAP) grants, which provides qualified students with tuition assistance,” said Senator Jones. “Since this MAP grant funding hasn’t been enacted, many students weren’t able to register for classes or get copies of their transcripts for other scholarships, pushing intended graduation dates back even further for many students.

“We also have a population of job seekers who need their transcripts to show potential employers that they’re qualified for good-paying jobs. Without access to their transcripts, recent graduates are often skipped over and relegated to a situation where they can’t pay and outstanding debt to the school they graduated from.”