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9/17/2009

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is pleased to announce that 2009-10 TESP Payment Online, which allows colleges to submit Teacher Education Scholarship Programs (TESP)* payment requests via the My Zone portal, is now available. First launched during the 2008-09 payment processing cycle, TESP Payment Online has replaced the paper roster process with a secure, electronic method of transmitting claims data for the IFTC (including Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois) and MTI Scholarship programs.

Please note the following:

2009-10 is the first year in which payment data for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program is available via TESP Payment Online. All online payment processing procedures and reports for Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois are the same as those for IFTC. Financial aid professionals who have security authorization to access TESP payment data at My Zone will also automatically have the same level of access for Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois payment data.
TESP Payment Online consists of two components: TESP Payment Request Roster and TESP Payment Authorization. TESP Payment Request Roster data is currently available at My Zone, and it is anticipated that TESP Payment Authorization data will become available in mid-November. Please remember that, once payment authorization has taken place, there may be a delay in vouchers being paid [see the August 18th e-Message regarding a delay in 2008-09 gift assistance programs payments made through the State of Illinois General Revenue Fund (GRF); similar delays may take place with 2009-10 GRF payments)].
The history of all payment requests for the academic year is available to colleges online, minimizing the need to print and retain hard copies of rosters.
The TESP Payment Online system is available each Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. (CT).

* Throughout this message, TESP refers to the Illinois Future Teacher Corps (IFTC) - including the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois - and Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship programs.

Reminder to Regularly View and/or Update Data

In order to ensure timely claims processing, be sure to submit electronic payment requests via the TESP Payment Online system on a regular basis throughout the academic year.

ISAC anticipates generating TESP payment roster data each Wednesday night during the 2009-10 processing cycle. Consequently, colleges should check TESP Payment Online every Thursday morning to see if they have new rosters available.

2009-10 TESP awards were announced in August. Due to previously-announced budget reductions, it is anticipated that no subsequent awarding will take place for these programs for the 2009-10 academic year. However, please be sure to continue completing and submitting Initial Certifications throughout the year, in order to ensure that applicants will receive the appropriate notifications (i.e., "Notice of Ineligibility" or "Eligible - Unavailable Funds") from ISAC.

Instructions Available Online

More information regarding TESP Payment Online, including detailed instructions, is available via the following locations at collegezone.com:

Security Levels for Accessing Data

Individuals who have been accessing TESP certification and notification data in My Zone can now view the TESP payment screens via TESP Payment Online. It's important to note, however, that the security level for a staff person to request, edit or update TESP payment claims must be set to Level 3 ("Cert Update, Award View, Payment Update") by the My Zone administrator at each college. The My Zone administrator should set user access to Level 1 ("Cert View, Award View, Payment View") for staff who will not be involved in requesting payment, but need to view TESP certification, notification and payment information.

Questions?

If college staff or My Zone administrators have problems gaining access to TESP Payment Online, or have questions regarding the online system, they should contact ISAC's School Services Department as indicated below.

December 2009

November 2009

October 2009

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If you have any questions regarding this e-Message, please contact ISAC's School Services Department by calling toll free at 866.247.2172 or sending an e-mail message to schoolservices@isac.org.