College Illinois must not fail

When we adopting our daughter from China, we immediately bought life insurance and bought into the College Illinois program. I spent two years lobbying our legislators to pass the law that helps teach financial responsibility to high school students in Illinois. I moved into our school district primarily because of the education afforded its children. I graduated from the University of Illinois and taught for a few years. Obviously, education is the primary concern for our family.

I’m gravely discouraged by the lack of direction the state placed on overseeing this extremely valuable college savings program. We believed when we scraped and sacrificed to save for this program (my wife has MS and is completely disabled), our daughter’s future would be positively positioned. We took her down to the U of I in the third grade for three extensive days touring the campus, classrooms, facilities, even dorms and sororities. She absolutely loved it! She studies hard, is an accomplished violin player and has won numerous civic, education and talent awards. Her resume for a 13-year-old is outstanding.

She’s doing the work, and her parents are doing their best. The state must hold up is end, or our American dream will (you fill in the blanks).

Randy Gollay family

Buffalo Grove