When a student has prepaid tuition benefits available for use, College Illinois!® sends the student an information package and a Student Handbook.

Each student’s College Illinois! account includes a specific number of tuition credit hours and mandatory fee payments. Each prepaid tuition semester purchased is the equivalent of 15 credit hours and one mandatory fee payment. Semester hours can be converted into quarter hours for those institutions operating on a quarterly schedule and trimester hours for those institutions operating on a trimester schedule. College Illinois! will send payment directly to the school for the amount covered by the student’s prepaid tuition plan type.

Eligible Schools

College Illinois! prepaid tuition benefits may be used at any Illinois public university, community college or any in-state or out-of-state eligible institution. An eligible institution is defined in Section 529 of the federal Internal Revenue Code as any school that is eligible to participate in federal student financial aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. These schools will have a Federal School Code and will be listed on the U.S. Department of Education's website, fafsa.gov, under School Code Search. https://fafsa.gov/FAFSA/app/schoolSearch.

College Illinois! works differently for students attending a private institution or college or university outside Illinois than for students attending an Illinois public university or community college. Once the student knows which type of school he/she will attend, they should follow the instructions in the Student Handbook.

College Illinois! is intended to cover the cost of tuition and mandatory fees for full-time or part-time undergraduate study. While the program did not offer prepaid tuition plans to cover graduate study, benefits may be applied to graduate student tuition and fees, but will be paid out at the undergraduate tuition rate.

How to Request Payment

It is the student’s responsibility to notify the school’s billing office about his/her intention to use College Illinois! benefits so that the school can bill the program for the tuition and mandatory fees covered by their prepaid tuition plan type. Payment will be made directly to the school from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) via the Illinois State Comptroller’s Office.

If a student intends to use prepaid tuition benefits at your school, but the school has never requested payment from College Illinois!, please contact a College Illinois! representative by phone at 877.877.3724, option 2 or by e-mail at student.billing@prepaidtuition.com. A program representative will provide specific information needed to verify a student’s eligibility and submit an invoice for payment.

Tuition invoices may be submitted by schools electronically via our secure invoicing portal. Access the portal here and bookmark it for future use. A user guide is available on the site to help you get started and to answer questions you may have.