Nursing Education Scholarship (NES)

Program News

(last updated June 2, 2026)

2026-27 Certification
2026-27 Application
2025-26 Program Funding
2025-26 Payment (submit summer-term claims by July 1, 2026)
2025-26 Awarding
2025-26 Certification
2025-26 Application
Enrollment Status Verification
GAP Access Registration

2026-27

Certification

A May 11 e-Message announces that colleges may certify 2026-27 NES eligibility via the NES system. The system is available to enter certification data each Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. (CT).

A certification record is created in the system when an NES application is complete. All certification records available in the system must be completed regardless of whether the school certifies a student as eligible or ineligible. The only way an applicant will receive notification regarding their award status is if the certification data is submitted via the system.

In order to ensure qualified applicants are considered when awarding takes place later this year, colleges are encouraged to complete and submit all certifications as soon as possible.

An overview of the online certification process is available on the NES Certification page. The NES User Guide – which will soon be updated to reflect the 2026-27 processing cycle – also provides details regarding functionality to certify student eligibility for this program.

Next Steps

When 2026-27 NES payment processing becomes available later this year (after awarding has taken place), the following procedures will remain in effect:

Any funds awarded as a living allowance are included in the scholarship amount requested by and paid to the college.
Funds resulting from each payment request submitted via the NES system are delivered to the college in a lump sum (either electronically or as a check, depending on how the college has set up their payments), rather than as individual checks for each student.
Payment Offset and Reconciliation procedures apply to this program.
- 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.

Application

The Nursing Education Scholarship (NES) application is no longer being accepted.

The NES application period each year typically starts on March 1 and continues through April 30. To be considered for funds during the 2026-27 academic year, the NES Application/Work Agreement/Promissory Note must have been submitted on or before the extended deadline of Sunday, May 31, 2026. Applicants also had until May 31, 2026 to submit their 2026-27 FAFSA or Alternative Application. Further details are provided at the NES Application Procedures page.

2025-26

Program Funding

The 2026 fiscal year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) appropriation for Nursing Education Scholarship (NES) is $4,000,000.

Payment

Important dates and reminders for 2025-26 NES payment processing:

As part of our ongoing efforts to best leverage appropriated funds to award as many eligible students possible, priority payment request (claim) deadline dates are established each term.
- A June 2 e-Message provides 2025-26 year-end updates:
  - ISAC will continue to accept 2025-26 NES initial claims and increases to previously submitted claims for all terms through (including) Wednesday, July 1, 2026.
    - 2025-26 NES summer-term claims submitted by July 1 will be considered timely.
  - Adjustments to cancel or reduce previously submitted NES claims will continue to be accepted for all terms through (including) Thursday, July 30, 2026.
  - Effective Friday, July 31, 2026, 2025-26 data in the NES system will become available for historical view only.
Claims submitted after a term’s priority claim deadline date will be paid only if funds remain after all timely claims have been paid.
- The first-term priority claim deadline date was December 31, 2025.
- The second-term priority claim deadline date was March 30, 2026.
- The third-term priority claim deadline date was May 8, 2026.
The timely submission of claims and cancellations/adjustments allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds and award other students, as applicable.

2025-26 Nursing Education Scholarship claims can be completed online and submitted electronically to ISAC via the NES system.

Submitting payment requests is a two-step process, which involves generating the individual requests and then submitting the requests.

Payment records that have been saved will display a Status of "U." Payment records that have been submitted will display a Status of "S." Only records with a Status of "S" will receive payment results.

Payment results display on the NES Student Detail: Payment screen the day after payment requests are processed. In addition, a Payment Result Summary and Invoice Detail Report can be viewed or printed by selecting the Report tab in the NES system the day after a payment request has been processed. The report includes Payment Results, Payment Exceptions and Invoice Detail about the payment claim. The Payment Results/Exceptions report should be reviewed the day after submitting payment requests to see which requests, if any, did not process as expected.

The disbursement of funds is processed by the State Comptroller's Office. Refer to the State Comptroller's Website page for information on how to track payment.

For more information, refer to the following locations on ISAC's website:
NES Payment
NES Electronic Processing
NES User Guide

Awarding

As announced in a September 12 e-Message, 2025-26 NES awarding has taken place. All renewal applicants who have been certified as eligible by their college received priority consideration for awarding, followed by eligible new applicants. Notifications will soon be mailed to award recipients by ISAC.

The maximum award amount and award date for eligible students are available via the Student List Eligibility: View screen of the NES system.

Refer to the NES Award Determination area for more information about the awarding process, award amounts and notifications. Details about the NES system are available at the NES Electronic Processing page.

Certification

A June 26 e-Message announces that colleges may certify 2025-26 NES eligibility via the NES system. The system is available to enter certification data each Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. (CT).

New for 2025-26 NES certification processing, colleges have the ability to revise previously-submitted certification records up until the time of awarding (once the student has been awarded, colleges must contact School Services regarding any changes to certification data).

In order to ensure qualified applicants are considered when awarding takes place later this year, colleges are encouraged to complete and submit all certifications as soon as possible.

An overview of the online certification process is available on the NES Certification page. The NES User Guide – also provides details regarding functionality to certify student eligibility for this program.

Next Steps

When 2025-26 NES payment processing becomes available later this year (after awarding has taken place), the following procedures will remain in effect:

Any funds awarded as a living allowance are included in the scholarship amount requested by and paid to the college.
Funds resulting from each payment request submitted via the NES system are delivered to the college in a lump sum (either electronically or as a check, depending on how the college has set up their payments), rather than as individual checks for each student.
Payment Offset and Reconciliation procedures apply to Nursing Education Scholarships.
- 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.

Application

The 2025-26 application for this program is no longer being accepted.

The NES application period each year starts on March 1 and continues through April 30. To be considered for funds during the 2025-26 academic year, the NES Application/Work Agreement/Promissory Note must have been submitted on or before Wednesday, April 30, 2025. In addition, either the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) or the 2025-26 Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid (Alternative Application) must be submitted (applicants who meet the April 30 NES application deadline have until May 31, 2025 to submit their FAFSA or Alternative Application).

Applicants who submitted an unsigned application prior to the April 30, 2025 deadline are sent a notification of incomplete application, and will have until May 31, 2025 to provide their signature.

Further details are provided at the NES Application Procedures page.

Enrollment Status Verification

NOTE: For the first time, ISAC is now requesting enrollment status verification data for the iGROW Scholarship Program.

Verification of award recipients' current enrollment status data is to be completed by the college and returned to ISAC as soon as possible. In order to be considered timely, all 2024-25 data must have been submitted on or before Thursday, May 7, 2026. Further details were provided in an April 8 e-Message.

Colleges are required to verify the enrollment statuses for recipients in programs with work requirements. Verification of enrollment status is required for all recipients who, according to our records, previously received funds from certain ISAC-administered programs and may have been enrolled at your institution during the prior academic year.

ISAC monitors recipients’ fulfillment of the program requirements because, if recipients fail to meet the applicable requirements, their awards convert to loans that must be repaid. Knowing recipients’ enrollment status, as reported by the colleges, allows ISAC to communicate with recipients who have graduated (or otherwise stopped attending college) regarding the steps they need to take in order to fulfill their program requirements. The sooner colleges submit enrollment verification data to ISAC, the sooner ISAC can communicate with impacted award recipients.

Refer to the Enrollment Status Verification page and the Enrollment Status Verification User Guide for step-by-step instructions on completing and submitting enrollment status verification data to ISAC. Details about requirements, extensions, deferments and repayment are provided in the Students & Parents – After College area of this website, and may be accessed via the "Program Requirements" link that appears in the right-margin menu of this page.

GAP Access Registration

All NES-participating colleges must register in the ISAC Gift Assistance Programs (GAP) Access portal for NES administration.

Instructions for registering in GAP Access are provided in the user guides listed below:

Activating GAP Access Administrator Accounts
Activating GAP Access User Accounts