On Thursday, more than 100 area college students will join their peers in a Springfield rally to restore state financial aid.

The state's Monetary Award Program, better known as MAP grants, provides need-based financial aid to roughly 130,000 Illinois students.

In August, MAP recipients learned they'd get fall disbursements, but no spring money would come.

Since that time, restoring about $200 million in MAP funding has been a priority issue for campuses. The rally is intended to put a face on the loss, student leaders say.

"This is going to be a show of student unity, and state unity," said Matt Spialek, ISU student body president. He'll join about 20 ISU student leaders in the capital.

At ISU, about 3,600 students will lose funding come January, he said. The Normal campus already provides about $5.2 million to supplement MAP grants. But, with no funding for spring it's looking at an additional $6 million to $7 million, said ISU spokesman Jay Groves.

Another 20 students each from Illinois Wesleyan University, Eureka College, and Lincoln College also are going to the capital rally. Lincoln College-Normal and Heartland also will send student groups. A few Lincoln Christian University students are planning to go to the rally, but not as part of an organized group, said Christine Thomas, LCU spokeswoman.

"This is a very immediate issue for students," said Babawande Afolabi, IWU student body president. "It's not a remote cause - not a faraway war or an ideology being discussed. This is something real and practical affecting us."

About 25 percent, or nearly 450, IWU students depend on MAP grants, said Afolabi. The Bloomington campus stands to lose about $1 million for the spring.

Nearly half of Eureka's students are MAP recipients this fall, said Ken Baxter, Eureka dean of students. And at Heartland, an estimated $400,000 in MAP funding for about 900 students is at stake, student trustee Kate Venn told Heartland trustees last month.

Besides taking part in the rally, Central Illinois student leaders say they'll speak to area legislators and deliver signed petitions from their campuses.

Gov. Pat Quinn has been traveling to campuses urging students to urge lawmakers to restore the money. The move has drawn critics, who say Quinn is playing politics, as he was the one responsible for making the cuts.

But while the state legislature is getting the pressure, Spialek said the General Assembly and the governor's office need to join forces and resolve the matter.

"Students should be contacting both their legislators and the governor's office," said the ISU student leader. "It's a shared responsibility."