MAP Plus Payment

2006-07 Payment Processing
MAP Plus Payment Request Deadlines
Reconciling MAP Plus Payment

Monetary Award Program Plus (MAP Plus) awards are applicable to tuition and mandatory fees. Payment of the MAP Plus grant is made in two disbursements, not to exceed $250 per term, for both semester and quarter schools. 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.

MAP Plus grants are paid directly to the approved institution of record that certified the applicant’s eligibility.  Payment of grant benefits is requested by the school through ISAC and sent by the State Comptroller directly to the institution.  ISAC authorizes a voucher in the amount of the payment claim and submits it to the State Comptroller’s Office that issues payment to the institution. A copy of the voucher is sent to the college by ISAC that can be matched with the payment from the Comptroller.  Payments are currently being made to schools on a periodic basis for 2006-07 fall term awards.

2006-07 Payment Processing

MAP Plus payment requests can be submitted via MAPnet and File Transfer Protocol (FTP).  By submitting a payment request, the institution is certifying that the applicants meet the program’s eligibility requirements.

Payment results appear on the Student Detail: MAP Plus screen as well as the PLS Payment Results Report.  MAP Plus results may also be retrieved via the Payment Results File Extraction.  The 2006-07 MAP 160 Byte File Layout Specifications describes where the MAP Plus information may be found on the extract file.

In order to obtain a listing of students with MAP Plus payment results, you may view and print the corresponding reports within MAPnet.  Specific instructions on requesting, viewing and printing reports are provided in the Payment and MAP Plus Payment chapters of the 2006-07 MAPnet User Guide. In addition to user requested reports, the Payment Results/Summary Invoice Detail Report provides payment results, payment exceptions and summary information.  The report is available online for 14 days after payment processing. After that time if you need a copy of the report, you will need to contact the School Services Department.

MAP Plus Payment Request Deadlines

The following priority payment claim deadline dates for 2006-07 MAP Plus awards were approved by the ISAC Commissioners at the January 26, 2007 meeting. 

1st semester or quarter	April 1, 2007
2nd semester or quarter	April 1, 2007
2nd semester starting after 2/15/07	June 1, 2007
3rd quarter	June 1, 2007

Payment claims are due to ISAC by 5 p.m. (Central Time) on the deadline dates to be considered timely. Any initial claims made after the deadline date(s) will be placed in a lower priority consideration for payment.

Reconciling MAP Plus Payments

MAP Plus reconciliation procedures are the same as those followed for the Silas Purnell Illinois Incentive for Access (IIA) Program. Payments must be reconciled on a student-by-student basis, and any award cancellations are to be reported to ISAC. The offset process will then make the necessary adjustment(s) to the institution's subsequent claim submissions. Funds should be returned to ISAC only after a final reconciliation has been completed to close-out the regular school year. No refund checks are to be sent to ISAC until that time.

As part of the close-out process for the 2006-07 academic year, letters will be mailed to financial aid directors in June, detailing the outstanding amount each institution must refund to ISAC for MAP Plus, MAP, and the IIA Program. The outstanding amount due, with proper documentation, should be returned to ISAC at that time.

MAP Plus refunds due to ISAC must be remitted within 30 days of the end of the institution's regular school year, or within 60 days following receipt of payment if the funds were received after the end of the regular school year [ISAC Rules, Section 2734.40 (h)]. Refund checks sent to ISAC must have the appropriate corresponding adjustment data provided via MAPnet. Business officers and financial aid staff are encouraged to work together in order to reconcile student awards and accounts.