Senator Bill Brady says his office will no longer issue tuition waivers to college students under the General Assembly Scholarship Program.

Senator Brady, who has sponsored legislation to abolish the statewide program, said the lack of reform to the scholarship program and the worsening fiscal challenges faced by the state and its universities brought him to reconsider his participation in the program.

“While at least in my case, these scholarships have always gone to worthy and qualified students, another downgrade in the state’s bond rating last week and a lack of support for reforming or abolishing the program from Democrats in the General Assembly have prompted me to terminate awarding scholarships to students in my district,” Senator Brady said. “In these difficult economic times for Illinois and our colleges and universities, we must look at every opportunity to maximize the use of our resources.”

“The program should be abolished, but short of Democrats agreeing to that, the time has come for me to cease awarding tuition waivers, despite the fact that they have enhanced the ability of many students in my district to obtain a college education,” Senator Brady said.

Senator Brady has not been involved in the selection of the scholarship recipients in his district, giving that responsibility to a committee of educators and community leaders who judged the applications blindly and selected the recipients.