Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program

2011-12 Payment
2011-12 Award Determination
2011-12 Qualification
2011-12 Cerification
2011-12 Nominations

2011-12

Payment

As announced in a September 29 e-Message, TESP payment request rosters, (IFTC, MTI and Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois) can be completed online and submitted electronically to ISAC via TESP Payment Online at My Zone.

Results for any payment requests received on or before Monday, October 3, 2011 will be available via TESP Payment Authorization at My Zone on Tuesday, October 4, 2011. Once payment authorization has taken place and vouchers have been mailed to colleges, there may be a delay in vouchers being paid by the State Comptroller's Office. Refer to the State Comptroller's Website page, located within the Processes area of the FAA Zone, for information on how to track payment.
 
The payment processing cycle for the 2011-12 academic year is as follows:

• TESP payment roster data will be generated each Wednesday night and available at TESP Payment Online every Thursday morning.
• Each week, results for payment requests submitted on or before Monday will be available at My Zone the following Tuesday (for example, payment requests submitted on or before Monday, October 3 will be available on Tuesday, October 4).

Refer to the TESP Payment Request Roster and the TESP Payment Authorization pages at TESP My Zone for details about the TESP Payment Roster process, instructions for completing and submitting payment request rosters to ISAC and how to view, save and print payment results. Payment information can also be found in the Gift Assistance area for each program.

Award Determination

Awarding for the 2011-12 Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program took place for qualified timely new and renewal application on Thursday, August 25, 2011 with results available online at My Zone. It is anticipated that no subsequent awarding for the Golden Apple Scholars Program will take place for the 2011-12 academic year.

Information about award determination can be found on the Award Determination and Payment for Golden Apple Scholars page within this section. Refer to the Teacher Education Scholarship Program page in My Zone to learn about accessing student eligibility data using TESP Notification to generate a report or view information online using the search, filter or sort functions.

Qualification

The 2011-12 Qualification process for TESP (Illinois Future Teacher Corp (IFTC), Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship) and the Golden Apple Scholars Program runs on a nightly basis throughout the award year. Be sure to access the TESP Student Certifications: List at My Zone regularly to learn the qualification status of applicants from your school.

If the college certified a student as eligible for a Golden Apple Scholars Program, the Complete column will be checked and a status code of "Q" will display in the Status column on the Student Certifications: List in My Zone. Corrections cannot be made online at My Zone after an eligible record has been qualified. Requests to correct qualified records must be submitted to ISAC.

If the college certified a student as ineligible for a Golden Apple Scholars Program, the Complete column will be checked and a status code of "U" will display in the Status column on the Student Certifications: List in My Zone. If a student subsequently meets the eligibility criteria (i.e., files a FAFSA, etc.), the Certification can be corrected online and resubmitted via My Zone.

Refer to the Student Certification Entry Instructions to learn about submitting a certification, obtain a complete list of the status codes returned after a certification record is processed and making corrections before and after a record has been qualified.

Communication to the student regarding their eligibility status is done by the Golden Apple Foundation.

Certification

Golden Apple Scholarship Initial Certification records for the 2011-12 academic year can be completed online and submitted electronically to ISAC via My Zone beginning April 13, 2011. My Zone is available to enter certification information each Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. (CT).  Results are available in real-time. No changes were made to the online certification process for the 2011-12 academic year.

An Initial Certification record is created in My Zone when the student’s Golden Apple Scholarship application is complete. All Initial Certifications available in My Zone must be completed regardless of whether the school certifies a student as eligible or ineligible. The only way applicants will receive notification regarding their eligibility status is if their schools have submitted the Initial Certifications via My Zone. Only applicants with a complete and eligible certification record will be considered for an award.

An overview of the online Certification process, instructions to enter and submit certifications to ISAC and how to request a report can be found in the TESP Certification area of My Zone. An overview of the certification process for Golden Apple Scholars is available within this section the Gift Assistance area at College Zone.  

Nominations

Nominations for the 2012 Golden Apple Scholars program will be accepted until November 1, 2011.