Section 2748.10  Summary and Purpose

 

a)         The School and Municipal Social Work Shortage Loan Repayment Program is intended to encourage Illinois Students to work, and to continue to work, as a school social worker in public school districts in this State or in State municipalities.  [110 ILCS 947/65.115]

 

b)         This Part governs the School and Municipal Social Work Shortage Loan Repayment Program.  Additional rules and definitions are contained in General Provisions (23 Ill. Adm. Code 2700).

 

Section 2748.20  Applicant Eligibility

 

A qualified applicant shall be:

 

a)         United States Citizen or eligible noncitizen;

 

b)         a resident of Illinois;

 

c)         a borrower with an outstanding balance due on an eligible educational loan related to obtaining a degree in social work;

 

d)         an individual who is not in default on a federally guaranteed educational loan and does not owe a refund on a grant or scholarship program administered by ISAC;

 

e)         an individual who, on the date of application submission, is currently employed and was employed as a social worker for least 12 consecutive months by:

 

1)         an Illinois public elementary school;

 

2)         an Illinois public secondary school; or

 

3)         an Illinois municipality where the social worker did not report directly to a police department.

 

Section 2748.30  Program Procedures

 

a)         Eligible educational loans include:

 

1)         Stafford Loans;

 

2)         Perkins Loans;

 

3)         Graduate PLUS Loans;

 

4)         consolidation loans;

 

5)         Supplemental Loans for Students;

 

6)         alternative loans; and

 

7)         other types of government and institutional loans used for education expenses.

 

b)         Non-eligible loans include:

 

1)         credit card payments;

 

2)         Parent PLUS Loans;

 

3)         loans that have been paid in full;

 

4)         loans from lending institutions that are not governed by State or federal regulations or loans from individuals or family members;

 

5)         any portion of a consolidated loan that cannot be directly attributed to the applicant; and

 

6)         non-education loans, such as home equity loans.

 

c)         All applicants annually must complete an ISAC application for the loan repayment program.

 

1)         Applications are available on ISAC’s website.

 

2)         If the application is incomplete, ISAC will notify the applicant, who will have an opportunity to furnish the missing information. The application will only be considered for processing as of the date the application, including all required documentation, is complete and received by ISAC.  No applications will be considered for processing if received after the published date unless funds remain available for disbursement.  ISAC reserves the right to request documentation to verify the data reported on the application.

 

d)         ISAC shall annually select the recipients from among those who have submitted complete applications and have supplied information required in subsection (c).

 

e)         The total number of grants awarded in a given fiscal year and the amount of each award as limited by subsection (f) is contingent upon available funding. If funding is insufficient to pay all eligible applicants, awarding will be determined on the basis of the dates that the completed applications were received and in the following order:

 

1)         first to new qualified minority applicants; then

 

2)         to other new, qualified applicants.

 

f)         The amount repaid by ISAC to the grantee shall be no more than the borrower’s remaining balance on all eligible educational loans and shall not exceed $6,500.  Benefits under this program are limited to a one-time award.

 

g)         Proceeds will be remitted directly to the holder of the loan(s) to be repaid when the beneficiary designates ISAC as the disbursing agent for this purpose. 

 

h)         The recipient and loan holder shall submit information for eligible educational loans in sufficient time for ISAC to make payments for each year in which the funds are awarded.

 

i)          If the recipient’s loan holder receives an overpayment, the loan holder shall return the amount of the overage to ISAC.  A supplemental request must be made by the recipient and processed by ISAC for any funds to be paid to another holder.

 

j)          When multiple loans are held by a single lending institution, the loan holder shall distribute the payment to one loan until paid in full.

 

k)         When possible, all loans held at a single lending institution shall be paid in full before monies are distributed to another loan holder.