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The following are questions and answers about the MAP Plus program. If you have questions not listed below, please contact School Services.
Q1. Who is eligible for MAP Plus?
A1. MAP Plus provides grants of up to $500 for Illinois residents who do not receive a MAP grant and whose families' adjusted gross incomes [as reported on the 2006-07 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)] are less than $200,000. Recipients must be enrolled on at least a half-time basis as sophomores, juniors or seniors at MAP-approved Illinois colleges.
Other eligibility criteria can be found on the MAP Plus Eligibility page within collegezone.com
Q2. Who will determine student eligibility?
A2. Verification of eligibility and announcement of an award amount (if any) is performed by the college. Eligibility for a MAP grant is determined first. If a student does not receive a MAP grant for any term during the regular school year, then MAP Plus eligibility is determined.
Q3. Can students who have received the maximum MAP paid credit hours receive MAP Plus?
A3. Yes. Provided all other eligibility requirements are met, a student who has received the maximum MAP paid credits hours could be determined eligible for and receive MAP Plus.
Q4. Can students whose MAP awards are in suspended status receive MAP Plus?
A4. Yes. If MAP is not used in a term (ineligible or suspended), a student could be determined eligible for MAP Plus if all program requirements are met.
Q5. Are colleges required to inform students of their eligibility for a MAP Plus grant?
A5. Due to the timing of the implementation of MAP Plus, many colleges have likely already provided financial aid packages to their students that did not reflect MAP Plus. It is at the college's discretion whether to now announce MAP Plus awards or wait until a later time (e.g., once payment has been made). If the decision is made to announce MAP Plus awards to students, the award must be identified as State of IL MAP Plus (Est) on any type of communication to the student.
Q6. What expenses does MAP Plus pay?
A6. A MAP Plus grant will pay tuition and mandatory fees (up to $500), minus other state and federal gift assistance that is restricted to paying tuition and mandatory fees. As is the case with MAP and the Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) Program, MAP Plus funds may be used for repeat courses.
Since the grant is applicable to tuition and mandatory fees only, it cannot pay for audit courses, credit-by-examination and/or life experience, or noncredit course offerings.
Q7. Will MAP Plus be included on MAPnet?
A7. Yes. All students meeting general eligibility can be viewed online at MAPnet. Three new fields were added to MAPnet - Family AGI, MAP Plus Suspense and MAP Plus Shutdown - and display on the Student List Eligibility: View and the Student Detail: Eligibility screens.
MAP Plus Students Only Filter has also been added. This option will allow colleges to filter the student list to include only those students meeting the MAP Plus eligibility criteria.
A MAP Plus Eligibility Report lists students eligible for MAP Plus in a format that may be viewed and/or printed.
Q8. How are funds claimed and disbursed?
A8. MAP Plus payment requests are accepted via MAPnet and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Fall term payment requests received by January 16, 2007 have been processed. Payment results appear on the Student Detail: MAP Plus screen as well as the PLS Payment Results Report. MAP Plus payment results may also be retrieved via the Payment Results File Extraction.
After a MAP Plus payment request is authorized by ISAC, a voucher is submitted to the State Comptroller's Office. The Comptroller will send payment by check, Direct Deposit via EFT or via Illinois Public Treasurer’s Investment Pool (IPTIP) to the school. A copy of the voucher is sent to schools by ISAC, that should be matched with the funds received from the Comptroller. Refer to the MAP Plus Payment page within this section for additional information and helpful hints about the payment process.
Additional payment requests will be processed on a periodic basis. Schools will be notified of payment of additional requests via the e-Messaging service and the MAP Plus Program News page within the Gift Assistance section of College Zone.
Q9. How is MAP Plus being funded and when will funds be available?
A9. Because no state dollars were appropriated to fund MAP Plus, the program is being funded through the sale of a portion of the student loan portfolio held by ISAC/IDAPP. Beginning January 16, 2007, payments are being made to colleges on a periodic basis for the 2006-07 fall term awards.
Q10. Is the funding for MAP Plus sufficient to pay all eligible students?
A10. Based on the spending authority for MAP Plus, it is anticipated that 71,000 students will receive awards. Once projections indicate that number has been reached, applications received after that point will be placed in a hold status.
Q11. Can the MAP Plus award be reduced to eliminate an overaward?
A11. No. If a MAP Plus award, combined with other sources of gift assistance exceeds the student's cost of attendance the school must reduce the other aid to eliminate an overaward. For the purposes of this calculation, federal veterans benefits are not counted as gift assistance.
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