Today on The 21st: a conversation with Illinois Senate Majority Leader and Black Caucus Chair Kimberly Lightford, college students considering a "gap year," and a former Chicago Tribune sportswriter and central Illinois basketball player on the ESPN miniseries The Last Dance.
High school students through the decades have sweated over the college admissions tests, the ACT and the SAT. Now, more and more schools are not requiring applicants to take the standardized tests.
More than forty well-off families in the Chicago suburbs got extra financial aid from the University of Illinois by strategically giving up custody of their kids, sometimes months before their child turned 18. Plus, Illinois State Senator Tom Cullerton has been charged by federal prosecutors. He’s accused of being on a union payroll for hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though he did almost no work for them. And you’ve likely heard the phrase “Will it play in Peoria?”. But its meaning has evolved over the years to adapt to the city’s surprising history.
On this encore edition of The 21st: Are affirmative action policies in college admissions under threat? Plus, we learn about Islamic communities in the Midwest and discuss the state of retail giant Sears.
Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline spoke with Lisa Micele, college and careers counselor at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, about current and next steps for students and their families going through the college admission process.
