Award Determination and Payment for Golden Apple Scholars

A minimum of 200 awards will be allocated each year to participants in the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program from the Illinois Future Teacher Corps (IFTC) Program appropriation (subject to appropriations from the Illinois General Assembly).

Award Announcement

A list of eligible applicants is provided to ISAC by the Golden Apple Foundation. These applicants are included in the initial awarding process if their college or university submitted an eligible Initial Certification to ISAC by the requested receipt date. Renewal applicants receive priority consideration. To qualify to be awarded and paid from IFTC Program funds, an applicant must:

• meet all eligibility requirements of the Golden Apple Foundation;
• be enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, at or above the junior level in a Teacher Education Program at an eligible Illinois public or private college in a Teacher Shortage Discipline (TSD).

Award Amount

The amount of each award is determined by whether the applicant is studying a teacher shortage discipline in addition to agreeing to teach at a hard-to-staff school. Award amounts are as follows:

• Up to $5,000 for individuals who agree to teach in a hard-to-staff school:; or 
• Up to $10,000 for individuals who agree to teach in a Teacher Shortage Discipline at a hard-to-staff school.

Communication to the applicants regarding their award status is done by the Golden Apple Foundation.

Refer to the Teacher Education Scholarship Program page in My Zone for information about accessing student eligibility data using TESP Notifications to generate a report or view information online using the search, filter or sort functions.

Payment

When the awarding process (which is based on the Initial Certification Documents that have been returned to ISAC by the requested receipt date) is complete, a payment request roster is produced and is available to be completed and submitted electronically to ISAC in a secure method via TESP Payment Request Roster at My Zone.

By submitting a roster to ISAC via TESP Payment Request Roster at My Zone, a school is certifying that the student meets all eligibility criteria. It is important to complete and submit a payment roster on a timely basis so that ISAC can monitor the fund balance.

If a student fails to meet any of the eligibility requirements during the academic year, all undisbursed funds will be deobligated. ISAC will notify the Golden Apple Foundation of students who no longer qualify to receive IFTC funds based on notification from colleges via payment requests.
 
Refer to the TESP Payment Request Roster section at TESP at My Zone for details about the TESP Payment Roster process and instructions for completing and submitting payment request rosters to ISAC.