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| By: Mike Sutarik |
It is no secret that both our state and federal governments have run up enormous debts, and they continue to have large budget deficits year after year. As students of a state university, we are all affected by the habits of our governments’ spending. We actually reap the benefits of these big spending politicians. Not only do our politicians give direct funding to NIU, but they also decide how much money will be spent on our financial aid. Even without being able to pay their bills, the state of Illinois continues to promise financial aid and funding for NIU and its students. However, in order for our state to get back on track, we will have to balance the budget and begin to pay off our debt. This is especially important to University students like us. Cuts in the state budget will need to be made. Even though we cannot know when or where these cuts will be made, we must be ready for the idea that higher education could end up on the chopping block. I raise this idea not to worry individuals, but rather to prepare people for this possibility. Personally, it is hard to me to believe that our politicians would make cuts to higher education, because of the votes that they would lose. However, something will have to be done to fix Illinois budget woes, and we should all wonder what the answer is going to be. Please visit
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-illinois-debt-clock.html.
