For Trisha Rodriquez of Belvidere, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is her “dream school.”

Rodriguez said it’s a huge school and there are so many opportunities for her there that she isn’t able to get where she’s from.

State senators who brought Rodriquez to a news conference at the Capitol say students like Rodriquez could be in for a rude awakening, unless the legislature renews the money for Monetary Award Program, which helps lower-income college students attend school.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed a 31 percent cut in money to public universities and has said the money they do get is squandered on fat-cat administrators.

In other State news, the weather outside is frightful, and that is just one of the things that can lead to stress this year.

Trish Fehr Logsdon is a licensed counselor with Springfield-based Memorial Counseling Associates, and says the biggest problem of all may be just trying to be all things to all people over the holidays — something she calls a clash between eustress or “beneficial stress,” and distress.

Logsdon says sleep problems, appetite dimishment, and other problems can be attributed to the clash of stressors.  She says at some point, simply sit back and take stock of all that you’re committed to, and even eat more purposefully.