Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program

Program News

(last updated June 2, 2025)

2024-25 Program Funding
2024-25 Payment
2024-25 Application, Certification and Award Determination

2024-25

Program Funding

The 2025 fiscal year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025) appropriation for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program is $10,750,000.

Payment

Important dates and reminders for 2024-25 Golden Apple payment processing:

As part of our ongoing efforts to best leverage appropriated funds to award as many eligible students as possible, priority payment request (i.e., claim) deadline dates are established for each term.
- A June 2 e-Message provides 2024-25 year-end updates:
  - ISAC will continue to accept 2024-25 Golden Apple initial claims and increases to previously-submitted claims for all terms through (including) Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
  - Adjustments to cancel or reduce previously-submitted Golden Apple claims will continue to be accepted for all terms through (including) Friday, August 1, 2025.
  - Effective Monday, August 4, 2025, 2024-25 data in the Golden Apple system will become available for historical view only.
- Claims submitted after a term’s priority claim deadline date will be paid only if funds remain after all timely claims have been paid.
  - The first-term (fall) priority claim deadline was December 31, 2024.
  - The second-term (spring semester and winter quarter) priority claim deadline was March 31, 2025.
  - The third-term (spring quarter) priority claim deadline was May 30, 2025.
- The timely submission of claims and cancellations/adjustments allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds and award other students, as applicable.

As announced in e-Messages dated September 11, January 21, and April 1, colleges may submit to ISAC (via the Golden Apple system) 2024-25 Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program claims for the first, second and third terms.

Submitting payment requests is a two-step process, which involves generating the request (either individually or in a batch) and then submitting the request.

Payment results display on the Golden Apple Student Detail: Payment screen the day after payment requests are processed. In addition, a 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. The Payment Results/Exceptions report should be reviewed the day after submitting payment requests to see which requests, if any, did not process as expected.

The disbursement of funds is processed by the State Comptroller's Office. Refer to the State Comptroller's Website page for information on how to track payment.

For more information, refer to the following resources on ISAC's website:

Application, Certification and Award Determination

As announced in a September 11 e-Message, colleges may view a listing of their institution's potential 2024-25 Golden Apple Scholars via the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen within the Golden Apple system.

The Application, Certification and Award Determination functions for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program 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.

Reminder

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.