ISAC Student PortalISAC Communiqué
Volume 35, Number 11C
May 2026
| Messages sent to: | Multiple Subscription Groups |
| ISAC Communiqué |
Welcome to the May 2026 ISAC Communiqué, which is a compilation of e-Messages sent through ISAC's e-Messaging service throughout May.
The articles in this electronic Communiqué have been organized according to the Counselor subscription groups to which the messages were distributed.
Questions?
Questions regarding information in this electronic Communiqué can be directed to Partner Services by calling 866.247.2172 or sending an email message to [email protected]. On occasion, you may be directed to a specific contact person or area; when this occurs, we will provide the appropriate information in the individual article or message.
Upcoming Important Dates from ISAC
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admissions Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations, and Public Libraries on May 28, 2026.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) would like to share information which may be helpful to you and/or your college-bound students.
Links in this message go to ISAC's website (isac.org) unless otherwise noted.
You may scroll through this message, or click a link to go to a specific section:
2027-28 (July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2028)
2026-27 (July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027)
General Information (Not Specific to One Academic Year)
July 1: High School Data Due (for 2027-28 SSP and OCCA processing)
Effective with the cycle that opened on May 18, 2026, the sixth semester data collection process supports both the State Scholar Program (SSP) and the One Click College Admit (OCCA) program. For this reason, it is now referred to as the "High School Data Collection" process.
ISAC is currently accepting SSP and OCCA data for Illinois students who will be college freshmen during the 2027-28 academic year. High schools are encouraged to submit complete and accurate data as early as possible to support both SSP processing and OCCA matching activities. All data must be submitted no later than July 1, 2026.
Refer to the High School Data Collection Guidance for SSP and OCCA page and the May 18, 2026 "High School Data Collection and Processing Has Begun" e-Message for further details.
Sixth semester data is accepted only via the SSP/OCCA systme within the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs Access (GAP Access) portal. Information regarding how to register for GAP Access is provided via the Required Sixth Semester Data page within the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs section.
School Contact Information and Managing GAP Access Usage
Please notify ISAC of any changes in your school's administration (i.e., new principal).
In keeping with the goal of securing all confidential data, the principal of each high school is designated as that school's GAP Access Primary Administrator. While we understand principals are not usually involved in the day-to-day processes, we do require the school principal to register for their own GAP Access account.
By June 30, 2026: High School Juniors Take College Assessment Exams for State Scholar Consideration
Eligibility for the State Scholar Program (SSP) is based, in part, on a student's highest qualifying ACT or SAT score. High school juniors who are potential candidates need to take one of the accepted exams during the specified timeframe to be considered for State Scholar designation, even though Illinois' public institutions are prohibited from requiring the submission of student test scores as part of the admissions process.
For students who are high school juniors during the 2025-26 school year, only exams taken between August 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 qualify for consideration in the State Scholar announcements that will be made during their senior year (i.e., high school juniors, who will be college freshmen during the 2027-28 academic year, will be named Scholars during the fall of 2026). Further details are provided for students at the State Scholar Program page within the Students & Parents area.
FAFSA® and Alternative Application Remain Available
ISAC has suspended the announcement of 2026-27 Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for all students whose initial 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) was received by the FAFSA Processing System (FPS) or whose initial 2026-27 Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid (Alternative Application) was received by ISAC after Thursday, April 23, 2026. However, these applications remain available online. If not already done, an application should be completed and submitted as soon as possible by students who will be attending college between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027. FAFSA results are used to determine eligibility for other forms of federal, state, and institutional financial assistance. The suspension of 2026-27 MAP award announcements does not impact any other financial aid programs.
College-bound students and their families, who may be seeking information about the financial aid application process, can be directed to the Financial Aid: Completing the FAFSA area of ISAC's website and the Federal Student Aid studentaid.gov website.
Public Comment Being Accepted for Proposed Rules and Amendments
Public comment is being accepted on proposed amendments to several Parts of the ISAC Administrative Rules, including Part 2760 (State Scholar Program) and Part 2777 (Public University Direct Admission Program). Specific details, including the date by which public comment for each Part must be submitted, are provided at the Proposed Rules and Amendments page of the e-Library and in a May 26, 2026 "ISAC Administrative Rules Update – Public Comment Being Accepted" e-Message.
First Generation Scholars Network
Encourage your graduating seniors who will be the first in their family to earn a college degree to join the First Generation Scholars Network to get support and resources from ISAC, their peers, and colleges across the state. Students heading to their first year of college this fall will find events and programs that provide tools, resources, mentoring, and connections that can help make the transition easier.
Online Resource Helps Students Find Leads for Summer Employment/Internships
Counselors are urged to promote the "Internship and Summer Jobs" online resource, which may be accessed via the Toolbox area of the ISAC Student Portal, to their students who may be seeking summer employment or internships.
Outreach Resources
Information about outreach programs, as well as the ISACorps™ and how to connect with your local ISACorps member, is available on our website.
In the Outreach Resources section, you will find additional information on how we can assist you with your school's efforts to provide college-bound students with information about financial aid.
June 25: Next Commission Meeting
The next meeting of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission is scheduled to take place at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, June 25, 2026. Further details, including a listing of tentative agenda items, will be available prior to the meeting via the ISAC's Governing Board: The Commission section of the About ISAC area.
Visit the Commission Meeting Schedule page for information regarding all meetings scheduled in 2026.
July 16: 2026 College Changes Everything® (CCE) Conference
Mark you calendar for the 2026 CCE conference – Education Matters – taking place on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Tinley Park Convention Center in Tinley Park, Illinois. Education is consequential, transformative and urgent; it is the ladder of opportunity that helps transform lives. And, matters of education – the systems, policies, and barriers – require our attention and collective action. Further details are provided at the College Changes Everything conference web page.
Holiday Schedules
ISAC staff will be unavailable for these holidays:
- Friday, June 19, 2026 – Juneteenth
- Friday, July 3, 2026 – Independence Day (observed)
Staff will again be available the first business day immediately following each holiday.
Processing Schedules
The SSP/OCCA system remains available on holidays during regularly scheduled hours.
For Assistance
Access the Counselors area anytime, or send an email message to Partner Services at [email protected]. We will review and respond to messages during regular business hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (CT).
ISAC Administrative Rules Update - Public Comment Being Accepted
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, and College Admissions Counselors on May 26, 2026.
Please find below a summary of recent and upcoming administrative rulemaking activities from ISAC for the most recent academic years. Also note that public comment is now being accepted on proposed rules for several Parts (see below for details).
2025-26 Academic Year: PACKAGE A
(Status: Preparation for Adoption)
Seven proposed rules – published in the Illinois Register (Volume 49, Issue 42) on October 17, 2025 – have completed the public comment period and were approved at the December 2025 Commission meeting and presented with no objectionsat three recent JCAR meetings. Summaries of the changes, as well as access to the full text of these proposed rules, are available at the Proposed Rules and Amendments page in the e-Library at isac.org.
ISAC will be moving to adopt these rules, and the adopted rules will then be posted at our website.
2025-26 Academic Year: PACKAGE B
(Status: First Notice)
An additional set of rules proposed by ISAC is moving through first notice and public comment. Summaries of the changes, as well as access to the full text of these proposed rules, are available at the Proposed Rules and Amendments page.
Public Comment Now Being Accepted
Public comment is now being accepted on these proposed rules:
- Public comment due June 15, 2026
- Part 2760: State Scholar Program
- Part 2763: Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program (formerly Minority Teachers of Illinois)
- Public comment due June 29, 2026
- Part 2700: General Provisions
- Part 2751: Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) Scholarship Program
- Part 2777: Public University Direct Admission Program
- Public comment due July 5, 2026
- Part 2730: Illinois National Guard (ING) Grant Program
- Part 2733: Illinois Veteran Grant (IVG) Program
- Part 2735: Monetary Award Program (MAP)
- Part 2764: Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program
- Part 5375: Public Information, Rulemaking, and Organization
Comments received on these proposed rules become part of the public record and should be officially submitted to:
Sarah Dulay
Agency Rules Coordinator
Illinois Student Assistance Commission
1755 Lake Cook Road
Deerfield, IL 60015
847-831-6757
[email protected]
2026-27 Academic Year
ISAC is compiling its agenda for rules items for the 2026-27 academic year and will provide additional details when available. Preliminarily, ISAC anticipates proposing changes to the following rules:
- Part 2737: Higher Education License Plate (Help) Grant Program
- Part 2746: Displaced Energy Worker Dependent Transition Scholarship Program
- Part 2747: Post-Master of Social Work School Social Work Professional Educator License Scholarship Program
- Part 2748: School and Municipal Social Work Shortage Loan Repayment Program
- Part 2750: Illinois Graduate and Retain Our Workforce (iGROW) Tech Scholarship Program
- Part 2752: Human Services Professional Loan Repayment Program
- Part 2753: Community Behavioral Health Care Professional Loan Repayment Program
- Part 2758: Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program
- Part 2765: Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) Program
- Part 2767: Illinois Teachers and Child Care Providers Loan Repayment Program
- Part 2776: Workforce Development Through Charitable Loan Repayment Program
NEW One Click College Admit Webinars: Data Collection
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admissions Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations, and Public Libraries on May 20, 2026.
for current high school juniors within the One Click College Admit (OCCA) initiative!
These sessions are designed to guide school staff through the technical and administrative processes essential for the Class of 2027, ensuring student records are accurately captured and submitted.
Sessions will be recorded and posted on https://www.isac.org/pd/on-demand-webinars.html. CE/PD hours will only be awarded for attending live.
For questions, contact [email protected].
High School Data Collection and Processing Has Begun
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators and High School Counselors/Teachers on May 18, 2026.
Links in this message go to the Counselors area at isac.org unless otherwise noted.
IMPORTANT REMINDER: Effective with the data collection cycle beginning May 18, 2026, the sixth semester data collection process will support both the State Scholar Program (SSP) and the One Click College Admit (OCCA) program. For this reason, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is now referring to this process as the "High School Data Collection" process.
ISAC is now accepting SSP and OCCA data for Illinois students who will be college freshmen during the 2027-28 academic year. The information needed for both programs will be collected on one data collection template – there will not be separate templates for SSP and OCCA data collection.
Use these links to go to a specific section:
| ISAC Accepting Sixth Semester Data |
| First Awarding |
| Reminder Regarding SSP Congratulatory Letters and Certificates of Achievement |
| Watch for Further Updates |
ISAC Accepting Sixth Semester Data
Sixth semester, defined as the third semester prior to graduation, is typically the end of a student's junior year (excluding summer term). This data must be submitted via the SSP//OCCA system in the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs (GAP) Access portal.
New for the 2027-28 High School Data Collection processing cycle, unweighted grade point average (GPA) and student directory information will need to be collected for all high school juniors to fulfill the requirements of the OCCA program. A full list of mandatory and optional student-level fields can be found on the High School Data Collection Guidance for SSP and OCCA page.
High schools are encouraged to submit complete and accurate data as early as possible to support both SSP processing and OCCA matching activities. All data must be submitted no later than July 1, 2026.
- For information regarding how to register for GAP Access, visit the Required Sixth Semester Data page within the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs section.
- Already registered for GAP Access? Now is the perfect time to verify that the principal, SSP, and Direct Admissions (for OCCA) contact information listed for your high school in the GAP Access portal is current. If any updates need to be made, please contact Partner Services at [email protected] or 866.247.2172.
- Remember that two-factor authentication is required for both School User and Administrator accounts every time a user logs in to the GAP Access portal. Refer to the GAP Access Two-Factor Authentication User Guide for instructions.
The following procedures remain in effect for this year's SSP processing cycle:
- if a school ranks, unweighted rankings should be provided;
- if a school does not rank, unweighted GPAs must be provided;
- weighted rankings and GPAs cannot be accepted; and,
- schools are required to submit data for the entire class and to include any applicable disqualification codes.
High schools must complete the following process when submitting the required sixth semester data:
Batch Upload (via Excel Spreadsheets) – AVAILABLE NOW
- ISAC provides an Excel spreadsheet template for you to submit your students' sixth semester data. The required template is available by selecting the "Guidelines and Samples" tab from the State Scholar and One Click Admit: File Upload screen in the SSP/OCCA system. Only data files using the official ISAC template should be used for submissions.
- When the Excel spreadsheet is ready to submit, log in to the GAP Access portal to access the SSP/OCCA system, and then follow the on-screen prompts to upload your file to ISAC.
- Once the file has been uploaded, the file validation process will begin.
- The validation process will take several minutes. Be sure to monitor the upload, and click the "Refresh" button to confirm the file has validated.
- After validation has completed, the file will have one of two statuses: "Validated" (no errors); or, "Validation Errors Found" (with errors).
- If the file status is "Validated," no further action is required.
- If the file status is "Validation Errors Found," the errors must be corrected before any students on the file can be considered for State Scholar designation. Instructions for correcting errors are provided in the User Guide for High School Programs.
- Note that file validation is different from data processing. Validation simply verifies that all records in the file are complete (no missing fields) and formatted correctly. You will be notified later in the year when the data processing cycle, during which State Scholars are named, begins.
NEW for 2027-28 file uploads: If you need to update previously-submitted information, corrections must be made in your school's master student data file (i.e., the file you initially submitted to ISAC). Update the applicable student records in the master file and then reupload the entire corrected master file via the GAP Access portal. Do not upload a file containing only the corrected student records, as this will overwrite the existing data in the system.
SSP Updates – ANTICIPATED FOR EARLY- TO MID-SEPTEMBER
- Please note that selection of State Scholars will not be finalized immediately at the close of data collection on July 1, 2026. Schools may have additional opportunities to make corrections to SSP-related data, before the selection process begins and while ISAC staff review submitted data after receipt of ACT/SAT test scores. Communications will be sent to high schools in fall 2026 to provide an overview of this and other SSP processes and updates.
In previous years, ISAC referred to the first selection of State Scholars as an "Early Announcement"; however, this terminology did not accurately reflect SSP processing. State Scholar candidates are reviewed on a rolling basis beginning early in the fall academic term (anticipated for early- to mid-September), and multiple selection runs are conducted throughout the fall to name additional Scholars. Beginning this year, ISAC will refer to the initial selection of Scholars as the "First Awarding" and will provide updates for subsequent selection runs in numerical order as they are completed.
A follow-up e-Message will be sent once the "First Awarding" of 2027-28 State Scholars has been scheduled.
Reminder Regarding SSP Congratulatory Letters and Certificates of Achievement
Please note: ISAC does not print State Scholar congratulatory letters or Certificates of Achievement – all high schools will need to print these documents for their State Scholars.
Watch for additional updates regarding State Scholar processing, OCCA-related activities, availability of the online option to provide/review individual records, and scheduling of early announcement rounds via ISAC's standard communication channels (i.e., the Counselor Message Board, the State Scholar Program News section, and ISAC's e-Messaging service). Processing updates will also be communicated via a yellow highlighted box that appears on the "State Scholar Program: Search By School: Results" screen.
2026 CCE: Call for Proposals Extended
Sent to Principals/Superintendents/Administrators, High School Counselors/Teachers, College Admissions Counselors, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange High School Participants, Illinois Electronic Transcript Exchange College Participants, Community Organizations, and Public Libraries on May 13, 2026.
July 16, 2026 | Tinley Park, IL
www.collegechangeseverything.org
Through conversations, storytelling, best practices, and calls to action, the College Changes Everything® (CCE) Conference offers a space for learning, advocacy, and action. This year, for our 16th gathering, we call upon you to join us with intention, commitment, and passion as we explore this year's powerful and dual-sided theme: Education Matters.
Call for Proposals: Deadline Extended to May 20, 2026
The most powerful moments at the CCE Conference happen when practitioners step to the front of the room and say: here is what I tried, here is what I learned, and here is what changed because of it. We invite you to be that voice by submitting a session proposal to help turn good ideas into real change for students.
We welcome proposals that speak to the full landscape of college access, completion, and career readiness and demonstrate how your work contributes to what matters most: meeting the evolving needs of our students, closing the gaps that stand between them and success, and sharing honest, practical lessons learned that move our field forward.
Priority consideration will be given to session proposals completed and submitted by May 20, 2026. For more details on submitting a proposal, please visit the conference website.
Please share this invitation with colleagues in your organization and across your networks – the more voices in the room, the richer the conversation. We look forward to seeing you and those you bring with you on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Tinley Park Convention Center in Tinley Park, Illinois.
by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
Providing Illinois students with information and assistance
to help make education beyond high school accessible and affordable.
April 2026 ISAC Communiqué
Sent on May 1, 2026.
The April 2026 edition of the ISAC Communiqué is now available for your review, and may be accessed via the Partner e-Messages & Newsletters section of the e-Library for Partners at isac.org.This electronic version of ISAC's newsletter is a compilation of information provided to Counselor partners via ISAC's e-Messaging service over the past month.
Topics covered in the April 2026 ISAC Communiqué include:
- Join Us for One Click College Admit Professional Development Opportunities
(sent April 23, 2026) - 2026-27 MAP Suspense: For Applications Received After April 23
(sent April 20, 2026) - Financial Aid Application Completion Initiative System Enhancements
(sent April 17, 2026) - Fostering Unity for Rural Education Webinar
(sent April 16, 2026) - 2026 CCE: Education Matters
(sent April 15, 2026) - Do You Send Paper Transcripts? Make the Switch to Electronic, It's Easy!
(sent April 13, 2026) - There's Still Time to Register for PaCE Curriculum Training!
(sent April 9, 2026) - Reminder for Science Meets Wisdom: Virtual FAN Event
(sent April 1, 2026) - March 2026 ISAC Communiqué
(sent April 1, 2026)
Encourage Your Colleagues to Sign Up for e-Messaging
ISAC's e-Messaging service is our primary means of communicating information to Counselor partners.
Encourage your colleagues who have not done so to subscribe through the Counselors e-Messaging sign-up page at isac.org today, so that they won't miss future announcements or updates from ISAC.
