Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program

Program News

(last updated March 29, 2021)

2020-21 Program Funding
2020-21 Payment
2020-21 Application, Certification and Award Determination

2020-21

Program Funding

The 2021 fiscal year (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021) appropriation for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Scholarship is $6,498,000.

Payment

As announced in January 8 and March 29 e-Messages, colleges are encouraged to submit spring-term payment requests for the 2020-21 Golden Apple Scholarship (GA) as soon as possible. The timely submission of claims and cancellation/adjustment data allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds.

Payment requests can be completed online and submitted electronically to ISAC via the GA system in the GAP Access portal. Payment results display on the GA Student Detail: Payment screen and on the Payment Results/Exception report the day after payment requests are processed.

Submitting payment requests in GAP Access is a two-step process, which involves generating the request (either individually or in a batch) and then submitting the request. After payment requests are processed, vouchers are generated and sent via e-mail to financial aid directors. The disbursement of funds will be processed by the State Comptroller's Office. Refer to the State Comptroller's Website for information on how to track payment. Colleges are encouraged to keep the Payment Results/Exceptions report for each payment request submitted so the invoice number on the report can be matched with the voucher and the funds received from the Comptroller’s office.

Be sure to report any adjustment to a student's academic level during the award year that would impact an award amount to the Golden Apple Foundation so that the student's certification record can be updated. Once the certification record is updated, the college will be able to submit a payment request for the updated award amount. The contact person at the Foundation is Cheryl Flores (flores@goldenapple.org).

For more information regarding online payment functionality, including detailed instructions, the Payment Offset process and processing reminders, refer to the following locations on ISAC's website:

GA Payment
GA Electronic Processing
GA User Guide

Application, Certification and Award Determination

As announced in an August 20 e-Message, colleges may view application and award information on the Student Eligibility List: View screen in the Golden Apple system. As a reminder, all processing of the scholarship was converted to the GAP Access portal since the 2019-20 processing cycle.

The Application, Certification and Award Determination functions to receive a Golden Apple Scholarship are performed by the Golden Apple Foundation. 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. The role of colleges will start with payment processing. Colleges will be notified when Payment processing begins.

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 ISAC's School Services Department.