Steroids and the professional athlete

As most people know, professional athletes are now tested for performance-enhancing substances such as steroids and human growth hormone in a way that they never were just 10 years ago. Is this testing a good thing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of professional athletes using performance-enhancing drugs in the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc? Do these drugs make for a better product? For instance, baseball fans once loved seeing Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds bang record-setting numbers of home runs. This kind of offensive output may never occur again without the use of performance-enhancers. Is that a good thing? What are your views on whether professional athletes should be allowed to take steroids and other performance-enhancing substances? What are the major considerations in forming views on this subject?

Nolan

Legalize marijuana?

Should marijuana be legalized? Does society really need it, and who would benefit from it? What are the cons of weed being legal? Are people really ready for it to be legal or, will legalization lead to some sort of abuse? Are the studies AGAINST weed fair? Are they credible, properly studied, and scientifically proven? Are the studies FOR weed fair? Are they credible, properly studied, and scientifically proven? Your views on legalizing marijuana?

Brent

Financial aid

Dear Student,

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) has received the information you reported on the 2012-13 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  The FAFSA you submitted serves as your application for both federal financial aid and Illinois’ Monetary Award Program (MAP).  MAP provides assistance to eligible students demonstrating financial need and is administered by ISAC and funded by the State of Illinois.  As one of those students who may be eligible, we thought you would be interested in learning what’s being proposed for MAP funding for the upcoming year and how it could impact the availability of MAP to other students like you who need help to make college a reality.

Each year, the number of MAP awards ISAC is able to provide depends on a number of factors, including program funding levels that are determined by state legislators and the governor when they approve the annual state budget.  For the 2012-13 academic year, significant differences exist in the proposed budgets for MAP.  In the governor's proposed budget, MAP funding would be about $437 million, an increase over this year's final total of about $420 million.  This would provide MAP grants for approximately 175,000 Illinois students. However, the House of Representatives has passed budget resolutions that cap overall spending at lower levels than the Governor's budget and could potentially result in a 15% decrease in MAP funding, to about $366 million, which would allow us to only serve about 135,000 students.

If the final MAP funding for this year is reduced, the program will serve fewer students in 2012-13 than it is serving this year.  (The program currently serves only about half of all eligible applicants.)  Depending on the severity of any cuts, they could also result in reductions in the award amounts for students who do receive MAP.

What can you do?

• First, begin to plan now in case grant sizes are reduced.  Use the resources available to you on our website to identify funding options that can help you make up the gap if your MAP grant is smaller than originally estimated.
• Second, students from around the state have scheduled a rally in support of MAP for 10:00 a.m. on April 19th at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.  If you are concerned about the potential impact of reduced funding on Illinois' neediest students, you may wish to join them.  Information about the event and about MAP’s impact on higher education access is available at ISAC’s website.
• Finally, if you would like to encourage your legislators to make MAP funding a budget priority, you can find their contact information at the Illinois General Assembly’s website, www.ilga.gov.  Click on the “Legislator Lookup” link at the lower right side of the home page if you need to find out who represents you, or simply click on “Members” and the names of your State Senator and Representative to find their contact information in Springfield.

Please do not respond to this message.  Contact us to submit questions about the programs and services administered by ISAC.

Student & Parent Services
Illinois Student Assistance Commission


Do you receive financial aid  for schooling, or do you know anyone who does? If you do receive aid, and if you had to... could you do without federal financial aid for schooling? Should the MAP Grant funding be reduced? What is your knowledge on Federal Financial Aid and how it affects you? Are you aware how much our government spends annually on financial aid? Is the investment a wise one?

Missolo

www.censoredbyanolddudewhoknowsbest.org

Recently, measures were proposed to supposedly combat fraudulent websites and piracy of movies, music, television, etc. These measure, if implemented, would allow the U.S. government to completely block all access to any website they deem unfit. Do you think that these measures are really needed? Are they the best way to go about solving the problems with piracy and such? Or are we giving the government too much power? Could this power be used against us, our freedoms, and rights to free speech? Do you have any other thoughts or views about censoring the Internet?

Addison

I pledge allegiance . . .

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and 

to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with 

liberty and justice for all."

The pledge of allegiance--an all too familiar elementary school memory. The pledge has been passed down by generations, and our young people recite it at the beginning of their school day almost as if they have no choice in the matter. Do you think that the pledge should still be taught/recited in our schools? Why or why not? Should teachers put more effort into teaching kindergarten students or first-graders about the pledge in greater depth than they do, such as the history behind it, who wrote it, and so on?

Do you think it is fine not to recite the pledge in schools? I've experienced a time first-hand, 

in high school, when a student wouldn't stand up to, I guess, "respect" his/her country. Was the person "right" to do this? Does it bother you as an American citizen to see the lack of effort or care put into these few words that shaped our country into what it is today? What are your views on the pledge of allegiance? When we say the pledge, what are we really doing? What does it mean to pledge allegiance to a flag? Do you want to retain "Under God" in the pledge? Why/why not?

Katherine