2025-26 ECACE Payment Requests Being Accepted

09/25/2025

Links in this message are to corresponding pages at the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) website (isac.org), unless otherwise noted.

ISAC is accepting fall-term payment requests (claims) for the 2025-26 Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) Scholarship Program.

Submit Payment Requests

Effective immediately, colleges may submit 2025-26 ECACE Scholarship fall (Term 1 for semester and quarter schools) claims for students who have been awarded a scholarship. In order to be considered timely, first-term claims for the 2025-26 ECACE Scholarship Program must be submitted on or before the priority claim deadline. The fall-term claim deadline date is December 31, 2025. The timely submission of claims and cancellations/adjustments allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds and award other students, as applicable.

Processing Reminders

  • Within the ECACE system, submit claims for individual certified ECACE Scholarship recipients via the "Student Detail: Payment" screen or in batches for a group of certified students via the "Payment Request Entry" screen.
  • The maximum award amount that may be claimed during the academic year is populated in the "Max Annual Award Amount" field of the ECACE system.
    • Due to limited funding, the 2025-26 ECACE Scholarship maximum annual award is the lesser of $7,500 or the cost of attendance after other aid is considered.
  • There are no term award limits for this program – colleges must determine the term award amount(s) based on other financial aid the student is receiving, keeping in mind that the ECACE Scholarship is last payer, and can be used for any cost of attendance component.
  • While the scholarship is an annual award, schools are also asked to indicate if a student is not eligible for payment on a per-term basis.
  • If a student fails to meet any of the eligibility requirements during the academic year, all undisbursed funds will be deobligated and awarded to the next eligible student
  • Submitting claims is a two-step process, which involves generating the request and then submitting the request.
  • By submitting a payment request to ISAC, a college is confirming that the student is enrolled and continues to meet all eligibility criteria.
  • Payment results are available in the ECACE system each morning (for example: results for claims submitted through the end of the day on Thursday, September 25th will be available in the ECACE system the morning of Friday, September 26th).
  • A Payment Result Summary and Invoice Detail Report can be viewed or printed by selecting the Report tab in the ECACE 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.
  • The disbursement of funds is processed by the State Comptroller's Office.
    • Allow four to six weeks for payment processing (i.e., from the date a claim is submitted until funds are received
    • Refer to the State Comptroller's Website page for information on how to track payment.

Resources Available Online

More information is available at the following locations on ISAC's website:

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