ISAC Student PortalGolden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program
Program News
(last updated June 2, 2026)
2025-26 Program Funding
2025-26 Payment
2025-26 Application, Certification and Award Determination
2025-26
Program Funding
The 2026 fiscal year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) appropriation for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program is $10,750,000.
Payment
Important dates and reminders for 2025-26 Golden Apple payment processing:
- As part of our ongoing efforts to best leverage appropriated funds to award as many eligible students as possible, priority payment request (i.e., claim) deadline dates are established for each term.
- A June 2 e-Message provides 2025-26 year-end updates:
- ISAC will continue to accept 2025-26 Golden Apple initial claims and increases to previously submitted claims for all terms through (including) Wednesday, July 1, 2026.
- Adjustments to cancel or reduce previously submitted Golden Apple 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 Golden Apple system will become available for historical view only.
- A June 2 e-Message provides 2025-26 year-end updates:
- 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 (fall) priority claim deadline was December 31, 2025.
- The second-term (spring semester and winter quarter) priority claim deadline was March 30, 2026.
- The third-term (spring quarter) priority claim deadline was May 8, 202.
- The timely submission of claims and cancellations/adjustments allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds and award other students, as applicable.
2025-26 Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program claims are completed online by the college and submitted electronically to ISAC via the Golden Apple system.
Submitting payment requests is a two-step process, which involves generating the request (either individually or in a batch) and then submitting the request.
Payment results display on the Golden Apple 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 Golden Apple 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 resources on ISAC's website:
Golden Apple Payment
Golden Apple Electronic Processing
Golden Apple User Guide
Application, Certification and Award Determination
As announced in a September 29 e-Message, colleges may view a listing of their institution's potential 2025-26 Golden Apple Scholars via the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen within the Golden Apple system.
The Application, Certification and Award Determination functions for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program are performed by the Golden Apple Foundation. Once a student has been certified as eligible by the Golden Apple Foundation, their award will immediately appear on the "Student List Eligibility: View" screen.
Reminder
All users need a valid GAP Access ID and password to access the Golden Apple system. ISAC relies on a designated Primary Administrator (usually, the financial aid director) at each institution to authorize users and provide them with the appropriate level of access for each ISAC program, including Golden Apple. Further details may be found in the GAP Access User Guides, and questions may be directed to Partner Services at [email protected].
