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April 2006
Welcome to the April 2006 ISAC Update for financial aid administrators and business officers. This version of the electronic ISAC Update is a compilation of e-Messages sent through College Zone’s e-Messaging service throughout April. This e-Messaging service has replaced ISAC’s use of printed newsletters, the ILASFAA ListServ, and special e-mail lists as our primary means of communicating information to you. The articles in this Update have been organized according to the FAA Zone subscription groups to which the messages were distributed via College Zone’s e-Messaging service. Questions? Questions regarding information in this ISAC Update 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 ISAC to Pay Default Fee on Behalf of Borrowers Maintaining a policy that began in July of 1999, paying this fee on behalf of borrowers reduces the cost of borrowing and results in a greater percentage of loan proceeds being available to offset educational expenses. This subsidy is estimated to save Illinois student loan borrowers and their families $13 million per year, or approximately $50 per loan. This benefit for borrowers, as well as all other agency programs and activities which facilitate access to education, are supported solely by ISAC's loan operations. All state funds allocated by the General Assembly are awarded to students and paid directly to colleges and universities on their behalf. Therefore, we greatly appreciate the support received through participation in ISAC's loan programs, as the revenue generated is reinvested into programs and benefits for students.  2006-07 Budget Packets Now Available Online - Due On or Before June 1, 2006 Updated Resource Documents and Budget Packets Available Online The following links provide you with the detailed information needed to successfully complete and submit your institution's 2006-07 budget packets on or before June 1st. Updated instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the MAP, IVG and ING Grant programs are available in the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs section of collegezone.com. Which Packet(s) Should Be Completed? Not all schools need to complete budget packets for all three programs. Community colleges and public four-year universities complete the new 2006-07 Gift Assistance Budget Packet for all the programs; all other MAP-approved schools complete the 2006-07 Monetary Award Program Budget Packet. E-mail Preferred Method - Due On or Before June 1, 2006 The preferred method of submitting the budget packet(s) is electronically via the e-mail account of the Financial Aid Director. To ensure smooth and timely processing, all budget packets submitted electronically, as with paper submissions, must arrive at ISAC on or before June 1, 2006. If you choose to mail or fax the budget packet(s) to ISAC, note the address on the front page of each packet. The 2006-07 information is being mailed or faxed to ISAC's Springfield Office. If you have questions concerning the budget packet process, please contact a School Services Representative at 866.247.2172 or schoolservices@isac.org. Do You Want to Change How Your MAP Awards are Calculated? Schools have a choice in how MAP term awards are calculated. Awards may be split evenly between terms or be split by whole dollar amounts. For example, if a semester school has elected to use the "cents" option, an annual award of $4471.00 is split evenly between terms as an award of $2235.50. If the school chooses to use the "no cents" option, the annual award of $4471.00 would be $2235.00 for the first term and $2236.00 for the second term. A definition of the "cents" or "no cents" option for quarter schools can be found at the above link.The majority of schools calculate term awards by the "cents" option, but if you're interested in switching to the "no cents" option (or vice versa), simply send an e-mail message to schoolservices@isac.org prior to June 1, 2006. Your awards would be re-calculated using the new method at the time of recompute later this summer. ISAC Loan Options Expand for Graduate Students of 2005 (HERA). To help you become better acquainted with the provisions of the HERA, we are preparing a series of Q & A's. The first of the series addresses Federal PLUS loans for graduate students and is posted in the Federal Information area of collegezone.com's e-Library. As more Q & A's on other topics are posted, we'll notify you via our usual communication avenues of e-Messages and Message Board postings. The expansion of the Federal PLUS Loan Program will begin with loans certified by the college on July 1, 2006, at which time students classified at the graduate level by their colleges will be able to borrow Federal PLUS loans guaranteed by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC). Here's how the loans will work:
Commission Meeting to be Held Friday, April 28, 2006 The tentative agenda for the meeting includes:
Money Smart Week Chicago - May 1 - May 6, 2006 Once again, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is partnering with The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to promote personal financial literacy through its fifth annual Money Smart Week Chicago. Taking place May 1st through 2005-06 MAP Funding Status Update As a follow-up to our March 15th e-Message regarding the status of funds remaining for the 2005-06 Monetary Award Program (MAP), we'd like to provide an update. Our sincere appreciation to those of you who have reconciled your student accounts and reported the appropriate adjustments to us. That information has been critical in allowing us to monitor the status of MAP claims. Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Important Dates You may either scroll through the entire message, or click on the appropriate link(s) to go directly to details about a specific topic: Operational dates and other announcements regarding ISAC-administered gift assistance programs MAPPING YOUR FUTURE CHAT EVENT Information on May 16th online chat HOLIDAY SCHEDULES Processing schedules for Memorial Day holiday All below links launch pages located at collegezone.com. UPDATES April 28th - The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission will take place at Parkland College in Champaign. The Commission meeting Agenda Book, providing a full description of all agenda items, will be available at collegezone.com five to seven days prior to the meeting. To access Agenda Books, select the link that appears beneath the "Resource Center" heading at the College Zone home page. Program-Specific Information April 14th - Payment Request Rosters and Certification Forms for 2005-06 Illinois National Guard (ING) Grant Program spring term payments are due. Payment of spring term and supplemental claims will occur once we have determined the final proration factor that will be necessary for spring term ING Grant Program awards. There will be no dollars available for summer term awards. April 15th - 2005-06 Student to Student (STS) Program of Matching Grants second quarter payment claims are due. Payment of second semester/second or third quarter claims will occur after June 15th (the STS claim deadline for second semester/third quarter), once we have determined the final proration factor that will be necessary for STS Program awards for these terms. No late claims will be paid. April 17th - 2006-07 Initial Certification Documents for all timely Illinois Future Teacher Corps (IFTC) Program and Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship Program renewal applicants are scheduled to be mailed. April 29th - Supplemental Payment Request Forms for the 2005-06 ING Grant Program are due. May 1st - 2006-07 Initial Certification Documents for all timely IFTC Program and MTI Scholarship Program new applicants are scheduled to be mailed. May 15th - 2006-07 Initial Certification Documents for all untimely IFTC Program and MTI Scholarship Program applicants are scheduled to be mailed. May 25th - 2005-06 Illinois Veteran Grant (IVG) Program spring term payment claims are due. Payment of spring term claims will occur after this date, once we have determined the final proration factor that will be necessary for spring term IVG Program awards. No late claims will be paid. June 9th - 2005-06 Monetary Award Program (MAP) and Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) Program payment claims are due for third quarter, and for second semester at institutions where the second semester begins after February 15th. June 15th - 2005-06 STS Program second semester/third quarter payment claims are due. Payment of second semester/second or third quarter claims will occur after this date, once we have determined the final proration factor that will be necessary for STS Program awards for these terms. No late claims will be paid. MAPPING YOUR FUTURE CHAT EVENT May 16th – Mapping Your Future Chat Event The next Mapping Your Future online Chat Event, Financial Aid and Managing Student Loans and Consumer Debt, is scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday, May 16, 2006. Watch for more information to be posted at the FAA Message Board as this date approaches. Also, remember that the calendar of upcoming Chat Events through August 2006 is available at the Outreach Activities page. HOLIDAY SCHEDULES A complete listing of 2006 holidays on which ISAC staff will be unavailable is provided at the ISAC Events Calendar. May 29th – Memorial Day Due to the Memorial Day holiday, ISAC offices will be closed on Monday, May 29th and will reopen on Tuesday, May 30th. Loan records received at ISAC on Memorial Day, as well as disbursement records received at the National Disbursement Network (NDN), will be processed the following business day. This means that CommonLine or Common Account Maintenance (CAM) files received on May 29th will be processed on May 30th, with results available May 31st (or the next available day for any schools opting to receive NDN files on specific days of the week). Note that ELM Resources will continue to process and transmit files on May 29th. Although ISAC's offices will be closed on May 29th, MAPnet will be available during regularly scheduled hours and will reflect 2006-07 records processed by the Central Processing System (CPS) through Friday, May 26th. 2005-06 Monetary Award Program (MAP) and Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) Program payment requests submitted from 5 p.m. (CT) Friday, May 26th through 5 p.m. (CT) Tuesday, May 30th will be processed Tuesday night, and payment results will be available on MAPnet the morning of Wednesday, May 31st. The College Zone Web site is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - even when the ISAC offices are closed. Also, questions or inquiries may be submitted at any time by sending an e-mail message to ISAC's School Services Department. With the exception of holidays, ISAC staff will review and respond to messages during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. CT). Return to top
Financial Aid Director Executive Briefing Conferene Call - May 1st To participate, dial 888.767.9380 and enter the passcode: 9767339#. Items which will be discussed during the call include:
MAPnet Users Urgent Notice About 2006-07 MAP and IIA Records ISAC has confirmed that some student records in 2006-07 MAPnet do not display an applicable Disqualify Code. This may affect your ability to determine Monetary Award Program (MAP) and Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access Program (IIA) grant eligibility for impacted students. The affected records fall into one or both of the following categories:
ISAC is working to add the appropriate indicators to the impacted records and plans to have this information display properly in MAPnet 2006-07 shortly. Disqualify codes for these students do appear properly in MAPnet 2005-06. Identifying Impacted Records Category 1 – MAP Paid Credit Hours, Disqualify Code 7 Records for these students appear with the correct number of MAP Paid Credit Hours (135 or greater), however other usual indicators are not displayed. Those indicators include the light bulb icon on the Student List Eligibility Screen, the yellow highlighted Disqualify field, and the “7” in the Disqualify field on the Student Detail Eligibility Screen. You can identify the impacted student records by using MAPnet’s Filter option and selecting “MAP Paid Credit Hours > = 135.” All student records with 135 or more MAP Paid Credit Hours will appear on the resulting Student List Eligibility Screen whether they have the disqualify code (and other indicators) or not. Category 2 – Defaulted Student Records, Disqualify Code 8 For these students, none of the usual indicators of a default status appear in MAPnet 2006-07. The usual indicators, including the light bulb icon on the Student List Eligibility Screen, the yellow highlighted Disqualify field, the “Y” in the Default field and the “8” in the Disqualify field on the Student Detail Eligibility Screen are not displayed. You may create a list of these potentially impacted student records by accessing MAPnet 2005-06 and, using the Filter option, selecting “Default”. Records that appear on the resulting Student Eligibility List Screen are those that may appear in MAPnet 2006-07 without default indicators when they are in fact records for students in default.
FFELP Participants Latest School DAAR Report Available The Notification of Student Loan Borrower DAAR Status report (School DAAR Report) for your school is now available on College Zone's My Zone. This online version has replaced the paper rosters ISAC sent in the past. The School DAAR Report is non-cumulative and is available twice a month to those institutions with students for whom ISAC, as the guarantor, has received a Default Aversion Assistance Request (DAAR) during the reporting time period. Each time a new School DAAR Report is made available online, an e-Message will be sent to the "FFELP Participants" e-Messaging subscription group. Accessing School DAAR Reports at My Zone My Zone is a portal available in the FAA Zone at collegezone.com that allows postsecondary schools online access to student-specific data in a secure environment. If you have not yet signed up to participate in My Zone, proceed to the FAA Zone front page and select the My Zone Quick Link. For complete information and instructions to access your school's DAAR Report, proceed to the FAA Zone front page and select the My Zone Quick Link in the right margin of the page.
ISAC Update Group Electronic ISAC Update for March 2006 Available at College Zone Topics covered in the March 2006 ISAC Update include:
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