2025-26 MAP Payment Implementation

08/21/2025

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is sharing the following information to assist colleges in the administration of the Monetary Award Program (MAP).

Submit MAP First-term Claims

The 2025-26 MAP payment cycle has begun, allowing first-term claims to be submitted.

• Colleges can submit first-term claims by accessing the MAP system, as well as by File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
• First-term payment requests will be processed on a nightly basis as they are received from colleges, and then submitted to the State Comptroller for payment per standard operating procedures.
• The fall-term claim deadline will be announced once determined.

Program Reminders

• When submitting claims, remember that ISAC has suspended the announcement of 2025-26 MAP grants for all students whose initial FAFSA is received by the federal processor, or whose initial Alternative Application is received by ISAC, after June 5, 2025.
• A Payment Result Summary and Invoice Detail Report can be viewed or printed by selecting the Report tab in the MAP system the day after a payment request has been processed.
  • The report includes Payment Results, Payment Exceptions and Invoice Detail about the payment claim.
  • Be sure to review the report to see which requests, if any, did not process as expected.
• Any 2025-26 payment requests that were submitted via FTP prior to today (August 21, 2025) will not be processed, and will need to be resubmitted by the college.
  • In order to prevent having to resubmit data in the future, never submit payment requests via FTP until after ISAC announces it is accepting the data for that academic year.
• Because Payment Offset and Reconciliation procedures apply to MAP, refund checks should not be sent for cancellations/adjustments made throughout the award year.
  • Funds should only be returned to ISAC after a final reconciliation has been completed at the end of the regular school year.

Online Resources

More information regarding the payment process is available via:

• the "Payment" chapter of the MAP User Guide, which has been updated to reflect the 2025-26 payment cycle and is located in the MAP Electronic Processing section of the Financial Aid Administrators Processes area, and
• the MAP Payment section of the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs area.

You are receiving this message because you registered for ISAC's e-Messaging service through one or more subscription groups for FAAs.

If you have any questions, please contact School Services by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or calling 866.247.2172.