HELP Grant supporting documents (grades, ACT Scores, and HELP curriculum certification) are due April 30. Only the student’s Mississippi Aid Application (MAAPP) is due March 31 for HELP Grant eligibility.
High school counselors are responsible for submitting the following data elements for every graduating high school senior between January 1 and April 30 each year:
Cumulative high school GPA (unweighted; calculated on a 4.0 scale)
Composite ACT score from a national test (and corresponding test date) OR ACT Superscore
Certification of completion of the HELP Core Curriculum
How to Submit Student Information
Submit for Individual Students in MAAPP:
Use this option to submit academic information if you only have a few graduating seniors OR if you wish to update information for an individual student.
- Log into MAAPP and select the student for whom you wish to submit information.
- Navigate to the “High School” tab and enter the student’s academic information.
- Be sure to certify the changes are correct and save the changes.
Batch Submit on High School Grade File:
Use this option to submit academic information for all graduating seniors in a single batch file, referred to as a high school grade file.
- Follow these instructions to create the high school grade file.
- Instruction Document for High School Grade Template – Includes ACT Superscores
- Grade File TEMPLATE (Microsoft Excel) – Includes ACT Superscores
The following documents have been created over time to help counselors extract data from various student information systems.
- SAM System Users (Updated 2023) – Import ACT Scores/Superscores into SAM first before creating the file.
- SASI System Users
- OSCAR System Users
- STI System Users
- Log into MAAPP.
- Select “Secure Document Share Portal” to upload the file in a safe, secure manner. Step-by-step instructions for uploading to the Share Portal are available HERE. Even though you are logged in to MAAPP, you will need to log in to the Share Portal as well. You will need your Username and Password. Your Username for the Document Share Portal is the same as your Username for MAAPP (unless you changed your MAAPP Username). Your Password is the Document Share Portal PIN located just beneath your name in MAAPP.
- Submit only one grade file per school per year. Do NOT submit multiple files per school (i.e. one counselor submits a file with students A-M and another submits a file with students N-Z) OR multiple files per year (i.e. one file in January and another with updates in April).
List of Processed High School Grade Files
Submit Updates:
- To submit updated grades, ACT Scores, or HELP Curriculum Certification for individual students , use the first option above to “Submit for Individual Students in MAAPP”.
- Do NOT submit a subsequent High School Grade File with updates once the initial file has been processed.
Certify Completion of the HELP Core Curriculum:
Students must complete a specific core curriculum in high school to qualify for the HELP Grant. Mississippi law requires that completion of the HELP Curriculum must be certified by the high school counselor. Counselors should certify that the student either DID complete the curriculum or DID NOT complete the curriculum.
View the HELP Core Curriculum.
- Certify for Individual Students in MAAPP: Follow the instructions above to “Submit for Individual Students in MAAPP”.
- Batch Certify on the High School Grade File: Follow the instructions above to “Batch Submit on High School Grade File”. Be sure to include the HELP curriculum certification (Y = Yes, curriculum complete; N = No, curriculum not completed) in the appropriate column.
- Certify on the State Aid Application Status Report. AFTER the March 31 online application deadline for HELP, log into MAAPP and select the “Reports” option to generate a report of your students. In the column “HELP CURRICULUM”, replace the word MISSING with the appropriate certification (Y = Yes, curriculum completed; N = No, curriculum not completed). In MAAPP, select “Secure Document Share Portal” to upload the edited report. Note: ONLY the HELP Curriculum Certification can be submitted in this manner. Do not attempt to submit GPA or ACT information using this report.
