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"Each member of the Illinois General Assembly, the state's legislative body, can give up to eight one-year scholarships away to any Illinois public university student." When deciding on the scholarship recipients, lawmakers can pick any rubric they want to choose them. In fact, "lawmakers awarded 196 scholarships to relatives of campaign contributors." These scholarships affect the universities because the scholarships are like tuition waivers, which leave the bill for the universities. Further, "university officials note the GA scholarship program costs their institutions about $12 million per year."