ISAC Student PortalISAC Communiqué
Volume 32, Number 3C
September 2022
| Messages sent to: | Multiple Subscription Groups |
| High School Counselors/Teachers | |
| ISAC Communiqué |
Welcome to the September 2022 electronic ISAC Communiqué, which is a compilation of e-Messages sent through ISAC's e-Messaging service throughout September.
The articles in this electronic Communiqué have been organized according to the Counselor Subscription groups to which the messages were distributed.
Questions?
Questions regarding information in this electronic Communiqué can be directed to School Services at 866.247.2172 or at ISAC.schoolservices@illinois.gov. 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.
Illinois Postsecondary & Career Expectations (PaCE) Framework Webinars
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admissions Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations and Public Libraries on September 22, 2022.
As you kick off the 2022-23 school year, don't forget to include a plan for college and career readiness in your school/district! With the new PaCE legislation going into effect soon (Public Act 102-0917/HB 3296), it is important to ensure you are on track for adopting and implementing a PaCE framework. If your school or district is looking to learn more about implementing the PaCE legislation, as well as new strategies for college and career readiness, we can help!
ISAC's PaCE webinar series is the place to start! This fall, ISAC's Professional Development team will be hosting monthly webinars from October through December on how to get started with the Illinois PaCE Framework, the new Public Act 102-0917 (HB 3296), and how to kick off implementation in your school or district!
All webinars are available at no cost to school counselors, college and career staff, and school/district administrators. To learn more and register, visit the PaCE Webinars page at www.isac.org/pace/Webinars/.
For questions, contact ISAC's Professional Development Team at isac.pace@illinois.gov.
Reminder: Join ISAC for free Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Webinars
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations and Public Libraries on September 20, 2022.
This is a reminder that there are now less than two months remaining for federal student loan borrowers to take advantage of the temporary changes to the PSLF Program. These temporary changes end on October 31, 2022; don't miss out!
Over 175,000 public service employees across the country have received loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program and the temporary changes. Here in Illinois, over 6,000 public service employees have received loan forgiveness!
If you want to learn more about PSLF and the new temporary changes, or if you have applied for PSLF and been denied, these webinars are for you. In each webinar, we will discuss the existing PSLF Program and the new Limited Waiver for PSLF that will allow borrowers to receive credit for payments that previously did not qualify for PSLF.
Remaining September Webinar Dates:
Wednesday, September 21, 5-6 p.m. (CT)
Monday, September 26, 1-2 p.m. (CT)
Learn more and register: https://www.isac.org/pslf. For questions on the webinars, contact the Professional Development team at isac.pslf@illinois.gov.
Processing Update for 2023-24 State Scholars (Impacting High School Graduating Class of 2023)
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators and High School Counselors/Teachers on September 19, 2022.
Unless otherwise noted, links in this message are to corresponding pages at the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) website (isac.org).
As indicated in a July 14 e-Message, an early announcement option for the State Scholar Program (SSP) is again available this year. The purpose of today's message is to provide details regarding the early announcement process.
You may either scroll through the remainder of this message, or click on the appropriate link(s) to go directly to a specific section:
| Submit Sixth Semester Data on or before November 4 Online and Batch Submission Now Available |
| Early Announcement Processing Data Processing Has Begun; Early Announcements to Begin as Soon as Late September/Early October |
| Corrections |
| Obtaining Certificates of Achievement |
| Illinois State Scholar Badges |
| Appeals |
| Looking Ahead: Final Announcements |
Submit Sixth Semester Data on or before November 4
In order to ensure qualified students are included when determining 2023-24 State Scholars, be sure to submit sixth semester data as soon as possible – and, no later than Friday, November 4, 2022.
Sixth semester is defined as the third semester prior to graduation, which is typically the end of a student's junior year (excluding summer term). The following procedures remain in effect for this year's cycle:
- if a school ranks, unweighted rankings should be provided;
- if a school does not rank, unweighted grade point averages (GPAs) must be provided;
- weighted rankings and GPAs cannot be accepted; and,
- schools are required to submit data for the entire class and to include any applicable disqualification codes.
If your high school's sixth semester data has already been successfully submitted (i.e., a confirmation e-mail was received from ISAC's School Services Department), proceed to the Early Announcement Processing section, below.
High schools that still must submit sixth semester data may choose from two available options: the online process, or in batches (via Excel spreadsheets).
Online Process – Now Available
- Student sixth semester data may be provided online via the SSP system.
- The student list is provided based on students who took one of the standardized tests (ACT or SAT).
- Step-by-step instructions for the online SSP system, including sample screen prints, are provided via the SSP Online Processing User Guide, which may be accessed via the GAP Access page.
- An Illinois SSP Sixth Semester Academic Information Request form must be completed and submitted by the high school for any student who should be considered for SSP designation but does not appear on the online SSP system. The form may also be used to notify ISAC of issues that require exceptions processing (i.e., if duplicate student records appear on the online SSP system).
Batches (via Excel Spreadsheets) – Remains Available
- Create an Excel spreadsheet with your students' sixth semester data.
- Formatting specifications for the Excel spreadsheet, along with a SSP File Upload User Guide, may be accessed via the Methods to Submit Sixth Semester Data area of the Required Sixth Semester Data page within the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs section.
- A sample template is available by selecting the "Guidelines and Samples" tab from the SSP: File Upload screen in the SSP system.
- Once the Excel spreadsheet is ready to submit, log in to the GAP Access portal to access the SSP system, and then follow the on-screen prompts to upload your file to ISAC.
- After the file has been uploaded, the file validation process will begin.
- The validation process will take several minutes (5 minutes minimum), so allow enough time and then click the "Refresh" button to check if the validation is complete.
- After validation has completed, the file will have one of two statuses: "Validated" (no errors); or, "Validation Errors Found" (with errors).
- If the file status is "Validated," no further action is required.
- If the file status is "Validation Errors Found," the errors must be corrected before any students on the file can be considered for State Scholar designation. Instructions for correcting errors are provided in the SSP File Upload User Guide.
- Sixth semester data processing has begun, and ISAC anticipates the first round of early announcements being made as soon as late September/early October.
- High schools choose whether to include their eligible students for consideration in the early processing cycle.
- Checking the "Run Selection" box (located on the "State Scholar Program: Search By School: Results" screen of the SSP system) allows the high school's students to be included for consideration in the next round of 2023-24 State Scholar announcements.
- For high schools that submit sixth semester data via an Excel spreadsheet, the "Run Selection" checkbox becomes available to check after ISAC has processed the file and resolved any discrepancies.
- An e-mail is sent to the high school's Primary Administrator (principal) and the School Contact (as listed in the SSP system's "State Scholar Program: Search by School: Results" screen) to indicate when the "Run Selection" box is available to check.
- Before checking the box, be sure to review all submitted student data for accuracy.
- For high schools that use the online process, the "Run Selection" box will be available immediately. The school simply needs to check the "Run Selection" box once the final sixth semester data has been submitted.
- Students whose high schools submit sixth semester data, but are not included for consideration in an early announcement round (i.e., the "Run Selection" box is not checked), will be considered for State Scholar designation when the last announcement round takes place in late fall.
- Individual congratulatory letters will be sent based on when a student is announced as a State Scholar.
- As 2023-24 State Scholars are named, congratulatory letters will be mailed directly to Scholars.
- If your school does not choose to participate in the early announcement process, congratulatory letters will be mailed directly to your Scholars after the final round of announcements takes place in late fall.
- Using the option for obtaining Certificates of Achievement, high schools participating in the early announcement process will be able to print certificates as soon as their Scholars have been named, rather than waiting for the final round of announcements.
- High schools may generate the "Finalists" report in the SSP system after their State Scholars have been announced.
- Once a high school's 2023-24 State Scholars have been announced, corrections to already-submitted data would need to be submitted as follows:
- Changes (for example, correcting the spelling of a name, or reporting that a student was designated as a State Scholar in error) must be submitted in writing to ISAC's School Services Department via a fax to 847.831.8549, via an e-mail to isac.schoolservices@illinois.gov, or via regular mail to our Deerfield address.
Obtaining Certificates of Achievement
Rather than waiting for the final round of announcements to take place in late fall, high schools have the option of downloading and printing Certificates of Achievement as soon as their Scholars have been named.
- Instructions for downloading and printing Certificates of Achievement are provided in the SSP Online Processing User Guide.
- Schools that do not choose to download and print their own certificates may instead wait for ISAC to mail printed Certificates of Achievement to them after the final round of announcements takes place.
- High schools that download their own certificates will not receive the ISAC-printed Certificates of Achievements later this fall.
Included in the congratulatory letter is information regarding a digital Illinois State Scholar badge issued by ISAC. The badge can be displayed on a State Scholar's online profiles and social media accounts, and shared with high school counselors, prospective colleges, employers, family members and others. Scholars may access their badges by visiting the ISAC Student Portal at isac.org/studentportal/badge and then following the on-screen prompts. Complete instructions are available via at the ISAC website.
Validating a Badge
Those with whom a Scholar shares their badge may wish to validate its authenticity. In order for them to do so, the Scholar will need to provide either a link (URL) to the badge or the badge ID.
- If the link (URL) has been provided: click on the link, which will launch the Badge Verification screen. The badge ID will automatically be populated, so they only need to click on "Check Badge ID."
- To verify a badge without the link (URL): the person will need to access the State Scholar Program Badge area (located within the Toolbox section of the ISAC Student Portal), click on "Badge Verification," enter the Scholar's badge ID, and then click on "Check Badge ID."
A validated badge will display "Badge ID is valid for: (FIRST NAME) (LAST NAME)."
- If a high school counselor feels that a student should have been designated as a State Scholar and was not, ISAC must receive a letter of appeal from the student and/or high school on or before the appeal deadline.
- The deadline for 2023-24 State Scholar appeals will be determined, and all appeals will be considered, after all Scholars have been announced (anticipated for late fall).
- Details regarding the appeals process are provided at the Appeals page of the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area.
- As you counsel students or parents with questions regarding the selection process, you may choose to share with them the student's GPA or class rank data that the high school submitted to ISAC, and explain how that information factors into the eligibility formula. An updated "Formula Used to Determine State Scholar Eligibility" resource will soon be available to access via the State Scholar Program page that is located within the Before College area of the Students & Parents section, under College and Career Exploration and Planning.
Looking Ahead: Final Announcements
- A sample press release, which can assist schools in announcing State Scholars, will be provided at the ISAC website after final announcements have been made.
Free: Join ISAC for Training Tuesdays This Fall – Professional Development Webinars
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations and Public Libraries on September 13, 2022.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is pleased to announce the Professional Development (PD) Training Tuesdays webinar series for this fall. Sessions will be offered from September through December. For the most up-to-date schedule and to register for one of the webinars, please visit our website at www.isac.org/pd/webinars.
To assist you in helping your students with the financial aid process and staying current on the state and federal programs, ISAC offers comprehensive professional development opportunities for counselors, mentors, and community partners through a series of training webinars. These webinar trainings give professionals a detailed understanding of the financial aid process by covering a wide array of topics, ranging from guiding students through their postsecondary options, ISAC resources, and student loan repayment.
All webinars are offered at no cost to the public, but registration is required. For additional information about ISAC's professional development offerings and upcoming webinars, visit our website at www.isac.org/pd.
ISAC offers Continuing Education (CE) credits and Professional Development (PD) hours to participants at a rate of one per contact hour. To earn these, it is necessary to attend the webinar in its entirety and complete an ISAC evaluation form. To receive PD hours, an additional evaluation from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) must be completed and submitted along with an Illinois Educator Identification Number (EIN).
For questions about ISAC's professional development opportunities, please contact isac.outreachtraining@illinois.gov.
Back to School Webinar on September 15
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants and Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants on September 9, 2022.
Don't forget to register for the Back to School webinar that will take place next Thursday, September 15th!
As staff and students are heading back to school, we want to remind you that the ISAC Transcript Exchange, through our partnership with Parchment, enables the electronic exchange of transcript information for Illinois students. The Parchment Customer Success Team is offering an online webinar to cover topics that will benefit you and your learners to help start the new school year successfully. The session will provide a refresher of Parchment features, updates on the newest product enhancements, tips for communicating with your students about transcripts and the Parchment platform, and additional resources, training, and support. Click below to register for the webinar. If you register for the webinar and are unable to attend it, Parchment will send you a recording of the session.
If you're not familiar with the ISAC Transcript Exchange, the service provides the opportunity for high school students to request that transcripts be sent electronically to the college(s) of their choice and to other organizations requesting transcripts (e.g., scholarship providers). Through the ISAC Transcript Exchange, Illinois high schools are able to use the Parchment electronic service at no cost. Current students are able to request that transcripts be sent electronically to destinations free of charge. Alumni are also able to use Parchment for transcript requests that includes a transcript fee. To protect the privacy and confidentiality of transcript data, documents are sent through a secure transcript service in compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). If your school is not currently taking advantage of the ISAC Transcript Exchange and you would like to learn more about the service, please contact Lenore Smith from ISAC at Lenore.Smith@illinois.gov.
Join ISAC for Free Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Webinars
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admission Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations and Public Libraries on September 7, 2022.
There are only two months remaining for federal student loan borrowers to take advantage of the temporary changes to the PSLF Program. These temporary changes end on October 31, 2022; don't miss out!
Over 175,000 public service employees across the country have received loan forgiveness under the PSLF Program and the temporary changes. Here in Illinois, over 6,000 public service employees have received loan forgiveness!
If you want to learn more about PSLF and the new temporary changes, or if you have applied for PSLF and been denied, these webinars are for you. In each webinar, we will discuss the existing PSLF Program and the new Limited Waiver for PSLF that will allow borrowers to receive credit for payments that previously did not qualify for PSLF.
September Webinar Dates:
Friday, September 9, 1-2 p.m. (CT)
Thursday, September 15, 8-9 a.m. (CT)
Wednesday, September 21, 5-6 p.m. (CT)
Monday, September 26, 1-2 p.m. (CT)
Learn more and register: https://www.isac.org/pslf. For questions on the webinars, contact the Professional Development team at isac.pslf@illinois.gov.
High School Counselors/Teachers
2023-24 MAP Start-up Formula Approved
Sent on September 23, 2022.
The following highlights some of the agenda items included at the September 22, 2022 meeting of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and any action taken. A listing of the agenda items is provided in the September 22 Agenda Book, which can be accessed from the ISAC's Governing Board: The Commission section of the About ISAC area of ISAC's website.
FY24 (2023-24 Academic Year) MAP Start-up Formula Approved – Agenda Item 4
Because the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) state budget process has not yet begun, when developing the proposed start-up formula, staff assumed that the Monetary Award Program (MAP) will receive $601.6 million, which is level with the FY23 appropriation. Following the FY23 recompute formula, staff recommended and the Commission approved using 2021-22 reported tuition and fees and the 2021-22 Pell Grant Payment Schedule for 2023-24 academic year MAP grants, with a maximum award of $7,200. The approved start-up formula is outlined in the MAP section within the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area of the website.
Encourage Students to Submit 2023-24 FAFSA® or Alternative Application after October 1
Although decreasing application volume and higher appropriations have resulted in fewer awards left in suspense status in recent years, high schools should still encourage college-bound seniors to submit the 2023-24 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) or the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid as soon as possible after the applications become available on October 1, 2022. MAP eligibility being expanded to include credit bearing short-term certificate programs at public schools, the FAFSA mandate for high school seniors, and – at the federal level – early implementation of some issues related to FAFSA Simplification are all factors that will be monitored by ISAC staff to determine their impact on application volume and appropriated funds.
Additional Items
The following additional items were presented to and approved by the Commission:
- 2023 Meeting Dates – Agenda Item 1A
- Proposed Administrative Rules Amendments – Agenda Item 5
Next Meeting
The next Commission meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
August 2022 ISAC Communiqué
Sent on September 1, 2022.
The August 2022 edition of the ISAC Communiqué is now available for your review, and may be accessed via the Partner e-Messages & Newsletters section of the e-Library for Partners at isac.org. This electronic version of ISAC's newsletter is a compilation of information provided to Counselor partners via ISAC's e-Messaging service over the past month.
Topics covered in the August 2022 ISAC Communiqué include:
- ISAC Transcript Exchange – Back to School Webinar
(sent August 25, 2022) - 2022 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Symposium – One Week Left to Register!
(sent August 25, 2022) - 2022 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Symposium – Call for Proposals Extended & Two Weeks Left to Register!
(sent August 16, 2022) - Join ISAC for Free Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Webinars
(sent August 9, 2022) - Upcoming Important Dates from ISAC
(sent August 4, 2022) - 2022 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Symposium – Registration Open & Call for Proposals
(sent August 3, 2022)
Encourage Your Colleagues to Sign Up for e-Messaging
ISAC's e-Messaging service is our primary means of communicating information to Counselor partners.
Encourage your colleagues who have not done so to subscribe through the Counselors e-Messaging sign-up page at isac.org today, so that they won't miss future announcements or updates from ISAC.
