Financial Aid and Veterans Affairs
Veterans Affairs
Benefits - Illinois Veterans Grant
- How to apply
- The student must provide a Member-4 copy of their DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) for each period of service and complete the Illinois Veterans Grant (IVG) application. This application is available from the Financial Aid Office at Prairie State College or can be downloaded from www.collegezone.com. The completed form and appropriate supporting documents should be mailed by the student to: D-3A, IVG Processing, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, 1755 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, IL, 60015-5209.
- What determine eligibility?
- The student must have served in active military service for at least one year unless discharged for medical reasons. All discharges must be honorable. The student must have resided in Illinois within six months before entering the service and return to Illinois within six months of leaving the service. The student must be living in Illinois and attending an Illinois state-supported school. Students who have had at least one discharge but are still on active duty can attend Illinois-based schools at out-of-state and overseas locations.
- How are recipients selected?
- The Illinois Student Assistance Commission reviews the application and determines if the student is eligible. An award letter is provided to the student, which must be submitted to the veterans affairs advisor at Prairie State College before the award will be posted to the student’s account.
- How is the amount of the award determined?
- The amount of the award is equal to the student’s charges for tuition and registration fees. Lab fees and book fees are not covered by the Illinois Veterans Grant and are the responsibility of the student. However, students are encouraged to apply for other federal grants to meet these costs by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) with PSC School Code (001640) as the school choice at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
- How and when are the funds paid out?
- IVG recipients do not receive a cash award. Appropriate charges based on the credit hours the student is enrolled in are billed to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and the amount is credited to the student’s account. The recipient is entitled to full payment of tuition and certain fees to any state-supported Illinois institution of higher learning for the equivalent of four calendar years of full-time enrollment including summer terms.
- Additional information
- This award can be used for both undergraduate and graduate work. If the student also is eligible for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission MAP Grant, the IVG award must be used first.
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