The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) has suspended 2012-2013 MAP grants for all students whose initial 2012-2013 FAFSA was received by the Department of Education’s Central Processing System (CPS) on or after Wednesday, March 14, 2012. However, if you have not already completed the 2012-2013 FAFSA, we encourage you to complete it as soon as possible at www.fafsa.gov to be considered for a Federal Pell Grant, Federal Work-Study, or a Federal Direct Loan.

Repeated Courses—Courses that are repeated will not be counted in enrolled hours if you previously received a grade of “D” or better in the course. Exception, a repeat will count once if a grade of “C” or better is required for the student to take the next course in sequence. For example, if you took MTH-095 and received a “D,” you would be able to repeat the course and have the hours count in your enrolled hours since a grade of “C” or better is needed to enroll in MTH-098. However, if you do not receive a “C” or better in your second attempt, the course will not be covered by financial aid the third time.

F Forgiveness—All hours, regardless of the F Forgiveness policy, must be considered when calculating a student’s GPA and hours attempted/earned ratio for financial aid academic standards of progress.

GI Bill Online Remedial Courses—Online remedial courses cannot be certified for veterans receiving the GI Bill.

Summer Pell Grant—Students only are eligible for the summer Pell Grant if they received Pell funds for only fall 2011 or spring 2012 OR if the student was paid less than full-time in either fall 2011 or spring 2012. For financial aid purposes, 12 credit hours or more is considered full-time; 9-11 credit hours is considered three-quarter-time; 6-8 credit hours is considered half-time; and 5 or less credit hours is considered less than half-time.

Summer Return of Title IV—If a student has non-attends or withdrawals in all courses for a particular summer session, the student’s aid will be recalculated for return of Title IV aid. Examples are available in the Financial Aid Office (S107).

Effective for 2012-2013:

IRS Data Retrieval—Students are encouraged to request the IRS Data Retrieval when completing the FAFSA. You are able to do this two weeks after the IRS has received the tax return. By doing so, you will more than likely not be selected for verification. Otherwise, if selected, you and your parent are no longer able to bring in a copy of your tax return. You must obtain a tax transcript from the IRS.

Ability to Benefit—Students who do not have a high school diploma or a GED, or do not meet the home school requirements will not be eligible to receive aid. However, students who received aid in the past under the Ability to Benefit Provision may still be eligible.

Pell Grant Duration of Eligibility—The duration of a student’s eligibility to receive Pell Grant funds will be reduced from 18 semesters to 12 semesters. A percentage is calculated for students not attending full-time..