JG-TC.com > News > McHugh's Restaurant offering tuition deal

TODAY'S HEADLINES

SPECIAL SECTION

ONLINE POLL

ONLINE EXTRAS

Shop Smart, Shop Local

SITE TOOLS

OTHER LINKS

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Sunday, October 25, 2009 9:19 PM CDT
McHugh's Restaurant offering tuition deal

By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com

With the free tuition offer at McHugh’s Restaurant, could restaurant employees hear this coming over the drive-through speaker:

“Make that a bacon cheeseburger, fries, Coke, and $3,500 for my spring tuition!”

Actually, students attending Eastern Illinois University and Lake Land College can apply at either the Charleston or Mattoon McHugh’s sites for a chance to win up to $3,500 for tuition. Those interested can ask for an application by walking in or driving up for a meal.

The offer was Tom McHugh’s way of helping a lucky student needing monetary assistance with all the cutbacks in funding due to the recession. The full cuts in the Monetary Assistance Program inspired McHugh to offer the money through his restaurants.

“We hatched this up over a couple of weeks when the state was cutting MAP money. While we were doing it the state legislature decided to fund MAP for next semester. But I didn’t want to change it. I think we’re being civic-minded by doing this. And I know my family has benefited from an education trust established by my father. So this was the right thing to do,” McHugh said.

And as a parent of two college students he realizes how tough it is paying for college tuition these days. “I have a hard time putting money together to keep them there myself,” McHugh said.

But many McHugh’s employees are local college students and they also inspired McHugh on this big slice of generosity. Some of his employees think the MAP drawing is a fine idea, even though McHugh’s employees are not eligible.

“My first reaction was this is great, and can I enter. I found out employees can’t. But just having a job is important to me because it is tough right now. But there are some people not able to make it through school without some help. And the great thing is this is a grant, not a loan,” said Brandon Dawson, an Eastern junior from Chicago, who has worked at McHugh’s for three years.

“It’s really good he’s doing this because so many people can’t afford college. I know I get assistance and many of my friends, too. Tom’s a really good guy to be doing this,” said Brit Estes of Mattoon, a Lake Land College sophomore and McHugh’s employee for three years.

Eligibility for the MAP is very simple:

A) Students must be enrolled for spring semester 2010.

B) Official entry forms cannot be duplicated.

C) The student’s relative or a friend can submit an application.

D) Ordering a food is optional while applying for this MAP.

The winner will be selected during a drawing at 2 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Charleston restaurant. However, the tuition payment will be made directly to the college registration office.

Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.

Add your comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Not already registered?
Then click Here.

Comment policy:

JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.

In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.

We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.

No comment may contain:

* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.

If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.

jayce wrote on Oct 24, 2009 9:14 AM:

" What a marvelous thing to do! God Bless you Tom McHugh. "

goodluckchuck wrote on Oct 24, 2009 11:06 AM:

" Wow! We need more people like him in this world. People helping people!!!! Nice to read something positive and heartfelt in this big world of bad news today. "

just a note wrote on Oct 24, 2009 12:06 PM:

" How many others are going to step and share.....God Bless you McHugh's "

HeinekenMan wrote on Oct 24, 2009 4:14 PM:

" You can win a million dollars playing Monopoly at McDonalds! Why is the paper writing stories about company promotions?

By the way, the headline is misleading. I thought the company was going to offer tuition reimbursement to its own employees.

Also, companies all over Coles County donate money to worthy causes. Most never publicize it. It's a nice gesture, but it appears to me that this guy is mostly just trying to sell cheeseburgers. "

JWT wrote on Oct 25, 2009 8:36 AM:

" WOW. We need more businesses to step up and take responsibility for their country.
Unfortunantly most companys leaders are only concerned with lining their pockets. "

Harry Potter wrote on Oct 25, 2009 12:36 PM:

" Also, companies all over Coles County donate money to worthy causes. Most never publicize it. It's a nice gesture, but it appears to me that this guy is mostly just trying to sell cheeseburgers. "

I was thinking the same thing. "

Dotty wrote on Oct 25, 2009 2:42 PM:

" Heineken Man, why don't you change your name it Negativity Man. We need more good news and that is what we got from this article. Kudos to you McHugh's, NEVER LET THE PESSIMISTS GET YOU DOWN! Keep Smilin' "

medic57 wrote on Oct 25, 2009 3:16 PM:

" I worked at Skateland in Savoy a few years back, the owner there would hire kids in High School, he would pay them minimum wage, plus, $1 an hour extra to be given to them when they started college. Not to many like that around anymore. "

DKN43 wrote on Oct 25, 2009 4:56 PM:

" You know that is a nice gesture and all but there are people here that need jobs as well, including myself, and have been everywhere in Charleston. It just seems like all the jobs go to the college students. Companies won't hire unless school is in cause business is down. Then when the kids start coming back, the companies seem to keep the same employees. I know that they help the college kids, and that is real nice what he is doing, but what about the few that live here trying to survive. "

pj1983 wrote on Oct 25, 2009 7:56 PM:

" as a manager i've found that younger people tend to retian information easier. they also have less responsibilities and won't have to miss work because of sick kids/spouses parents. a big draw for companies is that student workers aren't likely to be full-time and therefore the company doesn't have to shell out for benefits and paid time off. "

CLICK TO ENLARGE

McHughs Double Drive-Thru restaurant employee Brittany Estes grabs a drink lid as she prepares for a drive-thru customer to reach her window Friday afternoon (October 23, 2009) at the restaurant in Mattoon. (Photo by Ken Trevarthan).