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In addition to the data elements that are required to determine a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC), there are critical data elements that must be reported on the FAFSA and appear on the SAR and/or ISIR in order for ISAC to determine a student's eligibility for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) and Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) grants.
If any one of the following items on the FAFSA/SAR/ISIR is blank, incomplete or incorrect, ISAC will not be able to determine a student’s MAP and IIA eligibility. When counseling students on how to properly complete the FAFSA, please review these critical items to ensure students are providing the information necessary for MAP and IIA. If any corrections are needed, they must be made through the Central Processing System (CPS) to update a student’s record for calculation of MAP and IIA eligibility.
Critical Data Items for 2006-07 Eligibility
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2006-07 FAFSA & SAR/ISIR Items |
MAP and IIA Eligibility Results
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Step One:
Item 18* |
Student's State of Legal Residence -- ISAC will load a dependent** student's record to the ISAC database when the student's state of legal residence is blank or is a state other than Illinois, but the parents’ state of legal residence is Illinois and a MAP-approved school is listed as one of the college choices. If this situation applies, there is no need to process a SAR/ISIR correction. |
Step One:
Item 24 |
Grade Level in 2006-07 -- must report an undergraduate grade level to be processed for a MAP or IIA award. If blank, ISAC will assume grade level of "2" for IIA eligibility. |
Step One:
Item 26 |
Will you have your first bachelor’s degree by July 1, 2006? -- must report “no” to be processed for a MAP or IIA award. |
Step Three:
Item 49 |
During the school year 2006-07, will you be working on a master's or doctorate program? -- must report “no” to be processed for a MAP or IIA award. |
Step Four:
Item 67 |
Parents' State of Legal Residence -- must be Illinois for dependent students. Failure to complete this item will produce an incomplete application for MAP and IIA for dependent students. |
Step Six:
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Federal School Code or College Name, Address, City and State - must report a MAP-approved school as one of the six college choices. |
* Please note: ISAC does not use FAFSA/SAR/ISIR Items 19 - 20 (Student’s Residence as-of date), nor FAFSA/SAR/ISIR Items 67 - 68 (Parents' Residence as-of date) to determine Illinois residency.
** If an independent student indicates a state other than Illinois in Item 18, ISAC will not receive the student's information from the CPS.
Student Aid Report (SAR) Corrections
A “dollar tolerance option” for calculating the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is again allowed before a SAR/ISIR correction is required. For the Federal Pell Grant Program, Campus-Based and Federal Stafford Loan Programs, no recalculation of the EFC is required if there are no errors in non-dollar items, and the net error in dollar items is $400 or less.
ISAC’s policy remains consistent with ED's decision on tolerance options of no errors in non-dollar items such as household size or number in college.
The guidelines for dollar items for Federal Pell and MAP grant recipients are:
- If a correction does not affect the Federal Pell Grant, but would change the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) by more than $100 (plus or minus), the SAR/ISIR correction must be made for MAP purposes.
- If a correction does not affect the Federal Pell Grant and does not change the EFC by more than $100 (plus or minus), the SAR/ISIR correction is not necessary for MAP purposes.
School Choices
As long as a school is listed as one of the six school choices on the SAR/ISIR, MAPnet calculates the award eligibility for that student for that specific MAPnet school. To add a school to the schools listed on the SAR, the change must be made via the SAR/ISIR.
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