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Volume 18, Number 4
April 2009 - June 2009
Welcome to the April - June 2009 electronic ISAC Communiqué, which is a quarterly compilation of e-Messages sent through College Zone’s e-Messaging service throughout April, May and June. This e-Messaging service has replaced both printed newsletters and special e-mail lists as ISAC’s primary means of communicating information to you.
The articles in this electronic Communiqué have been organized according to the Counselor Zone subscription groups to which the messages were distributed via College Zone’s e-Messaging service.
Questions?
Questions regarding information in this electronic Communiqué can be directed to School Services at 866.247.2172 or at schoolservices@isac.org. On occasion, you may be directed to a specific contact person or area; when this occurs, we will provide the appropriate information in the individual article or message.
Multiple Subscription Groups
Choices® Explorer + Choices® Planner + IllinoisMentor = WhatsNextIllinois.org
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations, and IllinoisMentor Counselors on June 18, 2009. Committed to our mission of making college accessible and affordable for all Illinois students, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is currently upgrading our comprehensive statewide college and career planning Web portal. The new portal (WhatsNextIllinois.org), available at no cost to you or your students, will provide students and schools with the tools needed to improve college opportunity and lifelong success - including college and career planning, online admission applications to over 900 colleges/universities across the U.S., nationwide college searches, electronic high school to college transcript processing, test preparation, and High School Scholarship Programs (HSSP) electronic delivery - all of which will be available beginning this fall.
WhatsNextIllinois.org will be a comprehensive, fully integrated, interactive one-stop career and college planning resource representing the combined best of Choices® Planner career exploration modules, IllinoisMentor college planning and financing tools, and the Choices® Explorer career exploration suite for middle schools.
If you are currently using or considering Choices® Explorer, Choices® Planner, and/or IllinoisMentor, please contact Abel Montoya (amontoya@isac.org) for further information about the new Web portal functionality and an estimated timeline for statewide implementation of WhatsNextIllinois.org. Watch for more information about WhatsNextIllinois.org as the summer progresses.
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Projected FY2010 Budget Impact On State-Funded ISAC Programs
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, and Community Organizations on June 12, 2009. The State of Illinois has a long history of supporting need-based student aid, and hundreds of thousands of students rely on this assistance to be able to afford to go to college. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is the state agency responsible for administering these scholarship and grant programs based on annual appropriations outlined in the state budget. This year, demand for need-based programs such as the Monetary Award Program (MAP) is at a record level with MAP-eligible applications up nearly 30 percent resulting in the earliest award suspension date in history (May 15th). This means 100,000 students would miss out on need-based financial aid even with a fully-funded budget.
However, absent new revenues and facing a substantial budget deficit, state cuts will need to be made, resulting in appropriation reductions in education, social services and other vital programs. In this budget scenario, ISAC’s appropriation for college scholarships and grants would be cut from $440 million to $220 million with a 25 percent reserve, leaving $165 million for scholarships and grants for the 2009-10 academic year.
At the June 26th Commission meeting at University of Illinois at Chicago, ISAC staff will recommend that MAP, the state's largest need-based grant program for college students, receive 97.3 percent of these dollars and make awards for the fall term at an 83 percent funding level. Likewise, the Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) program, which provides small grants to the lowest income students for school supplies, would be funded at a level that allows for fall term only awards. No other scholarships, grants, or loan repayment/forgiveness programs administered by ISAC would be funded for the entire 2010 fiscal year. These include:
Bonus Incentive Grant (BIG)
Grant Program for Dependents of Correctional Officers
Grant Program for Dependents of Police or Fire Officers
Illinois Future Teacher Corps (IFTC)
Illinois National Guard (ING) Grant*
Illinois Veteran Grant (IVG)*
Illinois Scholars
Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI)
Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program
Nurse Educator Scholarship Program (NESP)
Optometric Education Scholarship Program
Teachers/Child Care Providers Loan Repayment Program
Veterans' Home Nurse Loan Repayment Program
* Although entitlement programs for students, funding would not be available through ISAC.
ISAC advocates providing MAP and IIA awards in the fall term to give students more time to make alternative financial arrangements for the second half of the academic year. Many of these students will be forced to use private loans, if they are able to qualify for them in a very difficult credit market, and will pay a significantly higher interest rate.
We know that educational achievement is closely linked to economic progress. Obviously, cuts to these vital programs in a time of record need would be catastrophic for the college aspirations of the neediest of our citizens and the future prosperity of our state. While the Commission hopes a common-sense budget that is fair to the taxpayers and provides Illinois with vital education funding will still come about, ISAC must plan on operating with reduced appropriations resulting in drastic cuts in needed programs.
The Projected FY2010 Budget Impact On State-Funded ISAC Programs, categorized by school, illustrates the effect of those appropriation reductions on Illinois students.
If you would like the General Assembly to make student financial aid a priority in allocating state resources for FY2010, contact your legislators. Contact information may be found at the General Assembly's Web site. Click on the "Legislator Lookup" link at the lower right side of the home page if you need to find out who represents you, or simply click on "Members" and the names of your State Senator and Representatives to find their contact information in Springfield.
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Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Important Dates
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations, IllinoisMentor Counselors and Public Libraries on May 22, 2009. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) would like to make you aware of the following information, which may be of interest to you and/or your college-bound students and their families.
Sign Up for HSSP Electronic Delivery System
Sixth Semester Data for 2010-11 HSSP Cycle Accepted through September 30th
As was announced in an April 21st e-Message, all Illinois high schools are encouraged to make the most efficient use of available staff and financial resources by participating in the HSSP Electronic Delivery System, which provides a means to electronically submit sixth semester student data to ISAC. This process will also allow your high school to send electronic transcripts to colleges, if your school chooses to utilize that function. There is still time to sign-up and participate in the HSSP Electronic Delivery System for the 2010-11 processing cycle. Contact School Services at 866.247.2172, or via
e-mail at schoolservices@isac.org, for more details on participating in the HSSP Electronic Delivery process.
The goal is for all Illinois high schools to transmit student scholar data electronically, soon making it the only method by which this data is submitted to ISAC.
ISAC is currently accepting school-generated sixth semester data from high schools. This data, which is used to determine eligibility for State Scholar, Merit Recognition Scholarship (MRS), and Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship programs [collectively referred to as the High School Scholarship Programs (HSSP)] for students who will be college freshmen during the 2010-11 academic year, must be submitted to ISAC on or before
September 30, 2009, in order to prevent ISAC from generating a roster at a later date.
Visit the High School Scholarship Programs (HSSP) section of the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area for future updates.
June 26th: Next Commission Meeting
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission will take place on Friday, June 26, 2009, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
A listing of tentative agenda items will be available prior to the meeting via the ISAC's Governing Board: The Commission section of the e-Library. Dates and locations for all meetings scheduled in 2009 are available at the e-Library's Commission Meeting Schedule page. Agenda and meeting schedule information can also be accessed by selecting the link that appears beneath the "Resource Center" heading at the College Zone home page.
July 15th: 2009-10 Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Eligibility Certification Forms Due
Remind your graduating Byrd Scholars that they must return the Eligibility Certification document to ISAC on or before July 15, 2009, so that their colleges will be able to request payment on their behalf for the fall term. Further details are provided at the Award Determination and Notification for the Byrd Scholarship page.
Holiday Schedules
May 25th: Memorial Day Holiday
Due to the Memorial Day holiday, ISAC offices will be closed on Monday, May 25th and will reopen on Tuesday, May 26th.
July 3rd: Independence Day Holiday
Due to the Independence Day holiday, ISAC offices will be closed on Friday, July 3rd and will reopen on Monday,
July 6th.
For Assistance
Remember that you can access collegezone.com anytime, or send an e-mail message to ISAC's School Services Department. With the exception of holidays (such as those indicated above), ISAC staff will review and respond to messages during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. CT).
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Take Advantage of New Electronic Delivery Process for Upcoming High School Scholarship Programs Cycle
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants on April 21, 2009.As you prepare for the upcoming delivery process cycle for the State Scholar, Merit Recognition Scholarship (MRS), and Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship programs [collectively referred to as the High School Scholarship Programs (HSSP)], make the most efficient use of available staff and financial resources by participating in the new HSSP Electronic Delivery System. All Illinois high schools are strongly encouraged to utilize this time-saving option, which provides a means to electronically submit sixth semester student data via the same portal used for the Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange (ILTE).
Note that, as part of our continuing efforts to conserve environmental and financial resources, this e-Message replaces the overview letter that had been mailed to high schools in prior years. Please share this information with any colleagues who may not yet be registered for College Zone's e-Messaging service, and encourage them to sign up today in order to ensure that they receive future announcements from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC).
New Cycle for HSSP (Determining Eligibility for 2010-11 College Freshmen)
ISAC is currently accepting sixth semester data* from high schools, which is used in determining eligibility for students who will be college freshmen during the 2010-11 academic year. The primary goal for this 2010-11 processing cycle is to announce State Scholars before Thanksgiving. We realize how important these announcements can be to your college-bound students, and we want them to know as soon as possible if they have been selected.
In order for ISAC to achieve the goal of announcing State Scholars prior to the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday, students' academic information must be reported to ISAC as early as possible. Because the HSSP Electronic Delivery Process can help you submit sixth semester data in a manner that is much easier and more convenient than working with paper rosters, it is a valuable resource to help us all reach this important goal.
Sign Up for the HSSP Electronic Delivery System Today!
Now is the perfect time to sign up and take advantage of the HSSP Electronic Delivery System process. Join your colleagues from other Illinois high schools that participated in last year's HSSP Electronic Delivery System program, and whose feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The goal is for all Illinois high schools to transmit student scholar data electronically, soon making it the only method by which this data is submitted to ISAC. Why wait to benefit from this innovative and time-saving program? Contact School Services to sign up today, either by phone (at 866.247.2172) or via e-mail (at schoolservices@isac.org).
Reminder: High schools that are already utilizing the HSSP Electronic Delivery System must update their school profiles each year. Instructions for updating the school profile are provided in the HSSP Electronic Delivery System Quick Reference Guide, which can be accessed via the Illinois Electronic Data Exchange Resources section of the e-Library's Job Aids & Reference Materials area at collegezone.com.
School-Generated Sixth Semester Data Accepted through September 30, 2009
In order to avoid receiving an ISAC-generated paper roster in October, be sure to submit your school-generated sixth semester data on or before September 30, 2009. Special care should be taken to ensure that only sixth semester data is submitted (sixth semester is defined as the third semester prior to graduation).
* As a reminder for schools submitting paper rosters, sixth semester data is to be reported for only those students in the top 50% of the class. This means that, if a school ranks, rankings should be provided for the top 50% of students. If a school does not rank, unweighted grade point averages (GPAs) should be provided for the top 50% of students. In addition, all schools (both ranking and non-ranking) must provide unweighted GPAs for any student who has an Illinois Standard Test Score (ISTS) of 31 or greater (this data is used in the determination of Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship awards).
Information Available Online
Instructions regarding the submission of school-generated sixth semester information, including required data and requested disqualification codes, are provided at the School-Generated Roster page of the Required Sixth Semester Data area at collegezone.com. Information regarding the delivery process and timeframes for the 2010-11 HSSP cycle is also available. Access these resources from within the High School Scholarship Programs (HSSP) section of the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area.
Current Cycle for HSSP (Determining Eligibility for
2009-10 College Freshmen)
By May 1st - 2009-10 Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholars will be announced.
At this time, we do not anticipate that the MRS Program will be funded. Consequently, we are not currently planning to generate any potential rosters or award notifications for the 2009-10 MRS Program.
Look for further information regarding anticipated HSSP activities by frequently reviewing the Program News section of the HSSP area, and also watch for future
e-Messages.
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Don't Forget - Money Smart Week Chicago (April 18-25, 2009)
Sent to High School Counselors/Teachers and College Admission Counselors on April 13, 2009.
As a follow-up to our March 30th e-Message, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) would like to remind you that Money Smart Week Chicago 2009 will take place next week (April 18th – 25th).
Events have been planned in the Chicago metropolitan area, and throughout Illinois, to promote financial literacy and help consumers learn to better manage their personal finances. Refer to the March 30th e-Message for a listing of sessions that are being offered by ISAC staff. Note that, in addition to the events outlined in the original
March 30th e-Message, an education finance planning session entitled "College Illinois!SM The Smart, Secure Way to Save for College" will be presented from 12 - 1 p.m. on
April 22nd at The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Be sure to pick the event that best fits your schedule, and plan to attend - and encourage your students and their families to do the same.
We look forward to seeing you!
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ISAC Communiqué
New ISAC Communiqué Available at College Zone
Sent on April 1, 2009 The latest edition of the ISAC Communiqué is now available for your review within the ISAC Publications section of College Zone's e-Library. This electronic version of ISAC's newsletter is a quarterly compilation of information provided to Counselor Zone partners via College Zone's e-Messaging service during the months of January, February and March.
Topics covered in this electronic Communiqué include:
- Money Smart Week Chicago: April 18-25, 2009 - Presentations Also Offered in Central Illinois
(sent March 30, 2009)
- Join ISAC for Free Lecture with Author of The Anatomy of Buzz
(sent March 23, 2009)
- Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Important Dates
(sent March 18, 2009)
- You're Invited to FAFSA Made Easier ...
(sent February 18, 2009)
- Dear Colleague Letter from ISAC Executive Director
(sent February 17, 2009)
- Summary of January 30th Commission Meeting
(sent February 2, 2009)
- ISAC Launches Interactive Application for Illinois National Guard (ING) Grant Program
(sent January 21, 2009)
- Earn Continuing Professional Development Units at "FAFSA Expert Training"
(sent January 13, 2009)
- "FAFSA Expert Training" Online Registration is Now Available
(sent January 5, 2009)
- 2009-10 FAFSA Available, and Upcoming Important Dates
(sent January 2, 2009)
- New ISAC Communiqué Available at College Zone (October - December 2008)
(sent January 2, 2009)
Electronic newsletters are available at the beginning of each quarter (January, April, July, and October), and are the compilation of information announced via an e-Message to any of the Counselor Zone subscription groups during the previous quarter.
Encourage Your Colleagues to Sign Up for e-Messaging
College Zone's e-Messaging service has replaced printed newsletters and special e-mail lists as ISAC's primary means of communicating information to Counselor Zone partners.
Encourage your colleagues to visit the College Zone Counselor e-Messaging Sign-up page today, so that they won't miss any future announcements or updates from ISAC.
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