College Zone - Printable Version - ISAC Gift Assistance Programs

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Funding is not available for the MAP grant to pay for students enrolled for more than 15 credit hours per term. Start-up is based on the assumption that a student will be enrolled in 15 credit hours per term and this is the award amount that will be calculated and displayed in MAPnet. Payment will continue to be made during the 2005-06 academic year according to the number of credit hours enrolled by applying a fraction, according to the student's credit hours claimed with a maximum of 15 and a minimum of 3, to each student's calculated term award amount.
Formula for Calculating Term Awards

Schools have a choice in how the 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 $4,521.00 is split evenly between terms as an award of $2,260.50. If the school chooses to use the " no cents" option, the annual award of $4,521.00 would be $2,260.00 for the first term and $2,261.00 for the second term.

For a quarter school using the "cents" option, an annual award, for example, of $3,974.00 is split between the terms as $1,324.66, $1,324.67, and $1,324.67. If the quarter school chooses to use the " no cents" option, the annual award of $3,974.00 would be split as $1,324.00, $1,325.00, and $1,325.00.

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 of the upcoming academic year (i.e., June 1, 2005 for the 2005-06 academic year).

Below is a narrative guide summarizing ISAC's step-by-step process in calculating a term award for either a semester or quarter school. This information is provided for explanatory purposes only.

Calculating a Term Award - Semester Schools
Calculating a Term Award - Quarter Schools

Student Detail: Anticipated Enrollment Calculator Screen

Based on feedback from the financial aid community, a new screen, Student Detail: Anticipated Enrollment Calculator, is being provided in MAPnet for the 2005-06 academic year. This screen can be used to calculate awards for students who are enrolled, or anticipated to enroll, for less than 15 credit hours per term. This screen will also help ensure accurate award calculations by credit hour.

This screen does allow for schools to enter a fraction of an hour. The decimal fields were initiated to accommodate the Enrollment Hours conversion factor for quarter schools. Although a semester school could also enter a fraction of an hour (decimal value), semester school enrollment hours will be rounded to the nearest whole number. Examples of the award calculation for both quarter and semester schools are available in the Student Eligibility section of the MAPnet User Guide.

Formula and MAP Award Validation Tool - No More Rounding Issues

An enhancement is available for 2005-06 with the purpose of ensuring that awards calculated by institutions outside of MAPnet match ISAC's official award calculations. Schools who have the ability to utilize File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for data exchanges are being offered an automated tool to submit test files to ISAC and are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this formula and award validation tool. It will become available at start-up and will continue to be available until the 2005-06 payment cycle begins. Refer to the Formula and MAP Award Validation Tool section of the MAPnet User Guide for further guidance concerning the FTP process.

Schools who do not currently participate in the FTP process, but are interested in becoming an FTP participant should contact schoolservices@isac.org.