College Savings Bond Bonus Incentive Grant (BIG) Program

You may either scroll through this page, or click on any of the following links to go directly to a specific topic:

Program Description
Eligibility
How to Apply (and Obtaining the Application)
     Applications Accepted Beginning On the First Business
     Day that Falls On or After August 1, and Continuing
     Until All Available Funds Awarded - Application for the
     2009-10 Academic Year Anticipated to be Available on 
     Monday, August 3, 2009
Details
Funding
Processing Updates
Participating Schools

If you are the beneficiary of an Illinois College Savings Bond, you may be eligible to receive a Bonus Incentive Grant (BIG). The amount of your grant will depend on the amount of the bond, ranging from a $40 to $440 grant per $5,000 of the bond. As explained in the Official Statement that is provided to bondholders at the time of purchase, all grants made under the BIG Program are subject to annual appropriation by the Illinois General Assembly.*

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Illinois College Savings Bonds are available on the State of Illinois Web site.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the bondholder must:

• Have continuously owned the bond(s) for at least 12 months preceding the date of maturity
• Use, directly or indirectly, at least 70 percent of the proceeds received when the bond(s) matures to finance the student beneficiary's educational expenses incurred at an eligible Illinois institution
• Use the proceeds from the bond(s) in either the academic year in which the bond(s) matured, or the academic year immediately following maturity
• Designate only one student beneficiary for each bond that matures, but the same student beneficiary may be named to five bonds with no more than $25,000 of aggregate compound accreted value at maturity for each academic year

In addition, the student beneficiary must:

• Be enrolled on at least a half-time basis as an undergraduate or graduate student at an ISAC-approved 2- or 4-year college in Illinois
• Not attend an educational institution organized solely for the purpose of religious instruction
• Not be enrolled in an academic program of divinity for any religious denomination or pursuing a course of study to become a minister, priest, rabbi, etc.

How to Apply

Note: The 2009-10 BIG Program application is anticipated to be available at College Zone on Monday, August 3, 2009.

To apply, you must work with your college to complete and submit an application for the BIG Program, in order for the complete application to be submitted to ISAC as soon as possible after it becomes available (typically, the first business day that falls on or after August 1). ISAC will continue to accept applications until, based upon each academic year's application volume and annual appropriations, all available funding has been awarded. During periods when applications are being provided and accepted by ISAC, you may download and print the application via College Zone, or request an application from ISAC. Complete applications must be submitted to ISAC's Deerfield office. Included on the application is a section for the college to provide ISAC with verification of the student's enrollment and program eligibility. In order to be considered complete, an application submitted to ISAC must have the bondholder, student beneficiary and college's information.

You must apply for this program as soon as possible after August 1 of the academic year in which the bond(s) matured, or in the academic year immediately following maturity. You must submit a new application each year you wish to be considered for a grant. Because the number of grants awarded each year is based on limited funding, it is likely that not all applicants who meet eligibility requirements will receive a grant. Complete applications will be processed according to the date they are received at ISAC.

Funding

The money used to award grants through this program is funded via annual appropriations by the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor. Grants are made until all appropriations (i.e., money) have been fully awarded (i.e., until no money remains).

Appropriated funds for the 2008-09 academic year (which were the same as those for 2007-08), combined with the high volume of applications received, resulted in grants being awarded for applications received within the first five days of August 2008.

This page will be updated after the fiscal year 2010 state budget has been finalized and appropriation levels for the 2009-10 BIG Program have been determined. 

For each academic year for which funds are appropriated, applicants are encouraged to work with their college to ensure that completed applications are submitted as soon after August 1 as possible.

Details

• The application process cannot begin prior to redemption of the matured bond(s)
• The State of Illinois disburses the funds to the student beneficiary on the school's behalf.

Processing Updates

Note that ISAC routinely updates this section as new information becomes available. Be sure to check back periodically for the current processing status.

For the 2009-10 Academic Year (last updated on June 30, 2009):

The 2009-10 BIG Program application is anticipated to be available at College Zone on Monday, August 3, 2009.

To view a listing of Illinois colleges approved to participate in this program, click on the link for the appropriate academic year:

2008-09
2009-10

Printable version