Section 2733.40  Institutional Procedures

a)         If a student is eligible for both an IVG and a Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant, the IVG benefits must be used first.  A student cannot decline IVG benefits in favor of using MAP.

b)         If a student is eligible for, and has indicated to the institution the intent to receive educational assistance through, the Post-9/11 GI Bill (38 U.S.C., Chapter 33), the institution must first apply Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to the student's financial aid award. IVG benefits can then be used to cover the remaining IVG eligible tuition and mandatory fees.

c)         A notice of eligibility from ISAC must be used by the institution to establish a qualified applicant's initial eligibility.

d)         Institutions shall submit a payment request to ISAC.

e)         So that ISAC can accurately track the recipient's use of eligibility units, institutions must report the total number of hours (including credit and noncredit hours) for which payment is being requested, even if IVG is paying only a portion of the charges for a course due to a withdrawal.

f)         ISAC will annually establish priority claim dates for the submission of payment requests and inform institutions of the required priority dates.  For the summer term, the priority claim date will be during the month of September; for the fall term, the priority claim date will be during the month of December; for the spring term, the priority claim date will be during the month of May.

g)         The reimbursement to institutions for Illinois Veteran Grants is contingent upon available funding.  Should General Assembly appropriations be insufficient to pay all claims, institutions will be reimbursed in accordance with this subsection:

1)         summer term claims received by the deadline date designated in subsection (f) will be paid, or prorated if funding is insufficient to pay all claims in full;

2)         if funds remain after summer term claims are paid, first semester and first quarter claims received by the designated deadline date will be paid, or prorated if funding is insufficient to pay all claims in full;

3)         if funds remain after first semester and first quarter claims are paid, then second semester/second and third quarter claims received by the designated deadline date will be paid, or prorated if funds remaining are insufficient to pay all such claims in full;

4)         if funds remain after second semester/second and third quarter claims are paid, claims received by ISAC after the designated deadline dates will be paid or prorated; and

5)         timely claims for the difference between in-district/state and out-of-district/state tuition for recipients who do not qualify for chargebacks will be considered for payment at the same time, and in the same priority order, as all other timely claims, in accordance with the provisions of this subsection (g).

h)         Institutions are required to reconcile payments, both payment data and actual funds, received through IVG and, as applicable, submit all necessary corrections to student records on a timely basis.

1)         Within 30 days after and including the date of receiving payment of any IVG funds claimed pursuant to this Section, the institution shall credit the IVG funds against the recipient's tuition and mandatory fee charges for the appropriate term.

2)         Within 30 days after the end of an academic term during which IVG funds are credited to recipient's tuition and mandatory fee charges, institutions must reconcile data received from ISAC as a result of payment claim processing against the eligibility status throughout that term for each student for whom payment claims were made. In reconciling the data with student eligibility, an institution must determine whether:

A)        The amount of the claim applied to a student's tuition and mandatory fee charges exceeded the amount that the student was eligible to receive for any reason, including as a result of billing errors or retroactive withdrawals; or

B)        The amount of the claim applied to a student's tuition and mandatory fee charges was less than the amount that the student was eligible to receive for any reason, including as a result of billing errors or retroactive withdrawals; or

C)        The amount of the claim applied to a student's tuition and mandatory fee charges equaled the amount that the student was eligible to receive.

3)         Any institution that determines that the amount of a claim applied to a student's tuition and mandatory fee charges either exceeded the amount that the student was eligible to receive, or was less than that amount, must submit an accounting of all such adjustments to ISAC within 30 days following the end of the applicable term.

4)         For any claims determined to exceed the amount that the student was eligible to receive, the amount in excess paid for the claims shall be remitted to ISAC within 45 days after the end of the applicable term unless the payment is received after the end of the applicable term. If the payment of claims is made after the end of the applicable term, the institution shall have 60 days following receipt of the payment to complete reconciliation and remit any funds due to ISAC.

5)         Award payments made in the name of one recipient cannot be applied to another recipient at the same institution. A refund of the payment made must be submitted to ISAC, and a supplemental request for payment must be processed for the proper recipient.

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 4450, effective March 8, 2024)