The measure would add Illinois to the five states that grant immigrant students financial aid for college education regardless of their legal status. Already, Illinois is one of 18 states that allows any status immigrants to qualify for lower in-state tuition and set up private college funds.

Alex Villanueva, external vice president of the Illinois Student Senate, tells USA TODAY he agrees with the “ends” of the protest but disagrees with the “means … They did not represent Illinois well.”

“I’m recommending we do a budget that’s for 2016 and 2017. Frankly, we’re out of money for 2016. There’s nothing that we can do really productive for 2016. We should get a grand bargain for both years, and do the right thing for the long term,” Rauner said.

“Here are the key figures: as of right now Democratic committees have an estimated cash available advantage of about $2.1 million ($35.6 million for the Dems, $33.5 million for the Republicans). Looking at spending the Dems have already spent $26 million so far this cycle, Republicans have already spent $18.2 million this cycle and Independent Expenditure committees (B-1’s) spent $11.2 million on legislative races during the primary. That’s a total of $55.4 million already spent… We’re likely to see $124.5 million spent on legislative races this cycle. Wow!”