Suspense: 2026-27 MAP Grants

ISAC will suspend (pause) the announcement of 2026-27 MAP grants as follows:

• Thursday, April 23, 2026 was the last day for students to apply for 2026-27 MAP grants by submitting an initial 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) or, for qualifying students, an Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid. ISAC bases its awarding on the application receipt date recorded in the initial FAFSA and Alternative Application records. The announcement of awards for students whose FAFSAs are received by the federal processor or whose Alternative Applications are received by ISAC after that date will be put "in suspense" – basically, a waiting list for 2026-27 MAP. See the 2026-27 Processing Updates section of the MAP page for further details.

MAP awards are made on a first-come, first-served basis for eligible students, and available funding may run out quickly for the program.

For quick reference, see the chart, below:

2026-27 MAP APPLICANT AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT STATUS CHART

Type of Applicant	Initial FAFSA® or Alternative Application Receipt Date	Award Announcement	Suspended
Standard	Prior to and including April 23, 2026	Full Year	No
	April 24, 2026 and after	Suspended	Yes

If you have not yet submitted a FAFSA (or, for qualifying students, an Alternative Application), we continue to encourage you to do so. The FAFSA determines eligibility for financial aid other than MAP for which you might be eligible, such as federal Pell grants, other ISAC financial aid programs, and institutional aid. Also, if MAP funds do become available later, the only way you can be considered for MAP is to have submitted a FAFSA or Alternative Application.

If my application is submitted after April 23, 2026 is there any possibility I can still get a MAP grant?

If your application is submitted after April 23, it is still possible that you could receive a MAP grant, but you should not count on it. Every year there are students who do not use their MAP awards, and those who are eligible for MAP and whose applications are received after but very close to the deadline may have an opportunity to get those awards.  When funding becomes available, additional awards are provided based on the chronological order in which applications were received.

Why don't students get more notice of the suspense date?

Because we need to start processing MAP application information long before we know how much funding we will receive, we use information from the previous year to determine when to suspend announcements of MAP awards. We continuously monitor, analyze and forecast application volume to be best able to announce as many awards as possible without exceeding expected available funding. As a result, we are not able to announce the actual suspense date many days ahead, but we announce as soon as we are able to make that determination. ISAC, however, regularly communicates with our college and high school partners and urges them to encourage their students to file their applications as soon as possible. We also share information about suspense on social media and directly with students and parents we work with directly through our own outreach.

For more information on the Illinois Monetary Award Program, see the MAP area of the Students & Parents section of our website.