2025-26 Golden Apple Updates

09/29/2025

Links in this message are to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) website (isac.org) unless otherwise noted.

Effective today, Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program eligibility data is available and first-term payment requests (i.e., claims) are being accepted for the 2025-26 academic year.

Student Records Available to View

View a listing of your institution's potential 2025-26 Golden Apple Scholars, as reported by the Golden Apple Foundation, via the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen within the Golden Apple system.

Reminders

  • Student eligibility is certified by the Golden Apple Foundation, rather than by the college.
  • Once a student has been certified as eligible by the Golden Apple Foundation, their award will immediately appear on the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen within the Golden Apple system.
  • To assist as you administer the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program, "Eligible Indicators" are available in the system.
  • Each recipient's maximum annual award amount is based on the number of years that they have been a Golden Apple Scholar, rather than their academic level in college.
    • The "Year in Program" column of the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen represents the number of years that a student has been a Golden Apple Scholar. For example, records for Scholars receiving their first award this year will have a value of "1" in the "Year in Program" field.
      • The Golden Apple Foundation provides the following values for the "Year in Program" field:

        1 = 1st year as a Golden Apple Scholar
        2 = 2nd year as a Golden Apple Scholar
        3 = 3rd year as a Golden Apple Scholar
        4 = 4th year as a Golden Apple Scholar
        5 = 5th year as a Golden Apple Scholar

    • Provide each Scholar's academic level (e.g., Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior), via the "Academic Level" field on the "Payment Requests" screen, as part of the claims process.
  • Potential Golden Apple Scholars cannot receive benefits from more than one ISAC teacher program in the same academic year, including the Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) and Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship programs.
    • GAP Access provides information on a student's awarding status for other ISAC programs.
  • All users need a valid GAP Access ID and password to access the Golden Apple system.
    • ISAC relies on a designated Primary Administrator (usually, the financial aid director) at each institution to authorize users and provide them with the appropriate level of access for each ISAC program, including Golden Apple.
    • Further details may be found in the GAP Access User Guides, and questions may be directed to Partner Services at [email protected].

First-Term Claims Being Accepted

Initial payment request records are now available via the Golden Apple system, allowing colleges to submit 2025-26 Golden Apple first-term claims.

In order to be considered timely, first-term claims for the 2025-26 Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program must be submitted on or before Wednesday, December 31, 2025. You are encouraged to submit claims as soon as you are able to do so.

Reminders

  • By submitting a Golden Apple payment request, you are certifying that the Scholar is enrolled and continues to meet all eligibility requirements.
    • If not submitting a payment request, you must report the reason for the student's ineligibility.
  • Providing each Scholar's academic level (e.g., Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior) via the "Academic Level" field.
    • Each Golden Apple recipient's maximum annual award amount is based on the number of years that they have been a Golden Apple Scholar (i.e., "Year in Program"), not their academic level in college.
    • As stated above, verification of the "Year in Program" value is part of the initial certification process completed by the Golden Apple Foundation.
  • Submitting Golden Apple payment requests is a two-step process, which involves generating the request (either individually or in a batch) and then submitting the request.
  • Payment functionality is available each day between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. (CT).
    • Claims submitted by 7:00 p.m. (CT) will be included in that night's processing, with payment results available the next business day.
    • Results for claims submitted after 7:00 p.m. (CT) will be included in the following night's processing.
  • Results for claims received are provided via the Golden Apple system.
    • The Payment Result Summary and Invoice Detail Report can be viewed or printed by selecting the Report tab in the Golden Apple system the day after a payment request has been processed.
      • The report includes Payment Results, Payment Exceptions and Invoice Detail about the payment claim.
      • Be sure to review the report to see which requests, if any, did not process as expected.
  • The disbursement of funds is processed by the State of Illinois Comptroller's Office.
  • Because Payment Offset and Reconciliation procedures apply to the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program, refund checks should not be sent for cancellations/adjustments made throughout the award year.
    • Funds should only be returned to ISAC after a final reconciliation has been completed at the end of the regular school year.

Resources Available Online

Resources regarding this program are available in the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program section of the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area.

The Golden Apple User Guide may be accessed via the Golden Apple Electronic Processing page.

Watch for Future Updates

Future program updates will be announced via the FAA Message Board, the Golden Apple Program News page, and/or this e-Messaging system.

You are receiving this message because you registered for ISAC's e-Messaging service through one or more subscription groups for FAAs.

If you have any questions, please contact School Services by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or calling 866.247.2172.