In celebration of 30 years of service, the Illinois State Scholarship Commission is turning in a new direction to urge parents to begin long-range financial planning for college educations.

Bob Clement, executive director of agency relations for the commission, said the commission will print special informative pamphlets to show parents different methods of early financial planning, such as a special college bond program offered by the state of Illinois. “We’re trying to change the mindset of parents that financial planning has got to be done earlier than their child’s junior or senior year in high school,” he said.

Jerry Augsburger, director of the NIU student financial aid office, said that any way of publicizing the merits of early college fund planning would get his approval. “It’s very critical for today and the future, and very few parents do any planning for funding,” he said.

The commission, which began in 1957, has grown from a small legislative action to the second largest state scholarship program in the United States during the past 30 years, Clement said.

The commission now offers 14 student assistance programs. Grants include the Monetary Award Program, the Illinois Veteran Grant program, the National Guard/Naval Militia program and the Student-to-Student Grant program. Scholarships include the Merit Recognition Scholarship program and the Carl D. Perkins Scholarship program. Loans included are the Guaranteed Student Loan program and the Supplemental Loans for Students program.

Clement said the largest program the commission offers is the monetary award program. He said $145 million will be awarded to 100,000 students for the 1988-89 academic year through this program.

Augsburger said NIU students receive more assistance from the commission than from any other programs offered. He said 3,356 students received $3,531,434 during the 1987-88 academic year from the monetary award program.

Augsburger said he has watched the commission grow since he came to NIU in 1967. “The application process was very different then,” he said.

In the early years of the commission, schools were given allocations of applications to distribute to students which the schools considered to be most in need, Augsburger said.