Glossary of Terms

ACADEMIC YEAR:  The period in which school is in session--typically September through May.

 

ACCREDITATION:  Recognition by an accrediting organization or agency that a college meets certain minimum standards in programs, services, and facilities.

 

ACCRUAL DATE:  The date on which interest charges on an educational loan begin to accrue. 

 

ACT: American College Testing Program an alternative college admission test. Measures English, math, reading and science reasoning abilities. Many students take the ACT in addition to the SAT I.

 

ADJUSTED AVAILABLE INCOME:  The remaining income after taxes and a basic living allowance have been subtracted (in the Federal Methodology).

 

ADVANCED PLACEMENT:  Designed for students who have completed AP classes in high school and the exam in each subject area. Colleges may grant advanced standing and credit depending upon grades earned on exams.

 

ADVISOR:  A member of the teaching faculty who advises students on course selection and curriculum concerns.

 

APPLICATION FEE: A non-refundable fee is usually charged for making an application to a particular college.

 

ASSET PROTECTION ALLOWANCE: The portion of parents' assets that is not included in the calculation of the parent contribution (calculated by Federal Methodology formula).

 

ASSETS: Cash in checking and savings accounts, trusts, stocks, bonds, other securities, real estate (excluding home), income-producing property, business equipment, and business inventory. Considered in determining expected family contribution (EFC). 

 

ASSISTANTSHIP:  A type of student employment; usually refers to a student teaching or research position. 

 

ASSOCIATE DEGREE:  A two-year college degree. 

 

AUDIT:  Attend a class without getting credit for it.

 

AWARD LETTER:  Official letter from the college financial aid office that lists all the financial aid awarded to the student. 

 

BACCALAUREATE DEGREE: The Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or any other bachelor's degree granted by a college or university for a program that typically requires four years of full time study.

 

BACHELOR'S DEGREE:  A four-year college degree.

 

BUDGET: The estimated cost of attendance for a student at an institution: typically includes tuition, fees, books, supplies, room, board, personal expenses and transportation. 

 

BURSAR'S OFFICE:  The university office responsible for the billing and collection of university charges.

 

CALENDAR:  The system by which an institution divides its year into shorter periods for instruction. The most common calendars are semesters and trimesters.

 

CAMPUS-BASED PROGRAMS:  U.S. Department of Education federal student aid programs administered by colleges and universities. Includes: Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS). 

 

CANDIDATES REPLY DATE AGREEMENT:  This agreement established a common date, May 1st, as the earliest date a college or university may require an accepted applicant to say whether he or she plans to attend. Early Decision applications are exempt from this agreement.

 

CEEB:  College Entrance Examination Board.

 

CENTRAL PROCESSING SYSTEM (CPS): The computer system that receives the student's need analysis data. The Central Processing System performs database matches and calculates the official Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and sends out the Student Aid Report (SAR).

 

CLASS RANK:  A student's standing based on his or her academic record as compared with that of the other members of the class. In a class of 100, the highest-ranking student would be number 1; the lowest, number 100.

 

COLLATERAL:  Property used to secure a loan, which can be seized if the borrower defaults on a loan. 

 

COMMERCIAL LENDER: A commercial bank, savings and loan association, credit union, stock savings bank, trust company or mutual savings bank.

 

COMMUTER STUDENT: A student who lives at home and commutes to school. 

 

CONSOLIDATION LOAN: Loan that allows borrowers to lower their monthly payments by replacing their original loans with one loan. Consolidation loans typically have longer repayment periods and greater interest.

 

CONSORTIUM: A voluntary association of two or more colleges providing joint services and academic programs to students enrolled in member institutions. Students at one campus are allowed to attend courses and use the facilities at other member campuses.

 

COOPERATIVE EDUCATION (CO-OP):  A program integrating  paid opportunities to gain professional, full-time work experience while enrolled in college. 

 

CORE CURRICULUM:  A group of courses in varied areas of the arts and sciences designated by a college as one of the requirements for a degree.

 

COSIGNER:  Individual who assumes responsibility for a loan if the borrower fails to repay.

 

COST OF ATTENDANCE: Also known as the budget, it includes tuition and fees, room and board, allowances for books and supplies, transportation, and personal and incidental expenses. 

 

COURSE LOAD: The number of hours taken in a given semester or quarter. A typical load is 1518 semester hours or 1517 quarter hours.

 

CSS: College Scholarship Service is a service of the College Board that uses a financial aid form to standardize the method of determining a student's financial need.

 

CUNY: City University of New York.

 

CUSTODIAL PARENT:  In cases where a student's parents are divorced or separated, the custodial parent is the parent with whom the student lived the most during the past 12 months.

 

DEFAULT:  Failure to repay or otherwise meet the terms and condition of a loan. Default typically occurs after six months of delinquent payments. Penalties include a bad credit rating, loss of future financial aid eligibility, withholding of tax refunds, garnishing wages and loss of monthly payment options. 

 

DEFERMENT OF LOAN:  Period during which the repayment of the loan is suspended because the borrower meets certain eligibility requirements (e.g., enrolled in college at least half-time).

 

DEFERRED ADMISSION:  The practice of permitting students to postpone enrollment for one year after acceptance to the college.

 

DELINQUENCY:  Failure to make a scheduled loan payment. 

 

DEPENDENCY STATUS: A student's dependency status determines the degree to which the student has access to parent financial resources. An independent student is at least 24 years old as of January 1, is married, is a graduate or professional student, has a legal dependent other than a spouse, is a U.S. Armed Forces veteran or is/was an orphan or ward of the court.

 

DIRECT LOANS:  A new federal program where the school becomes the lending agency and manages the loan funds directly, with the federal government providing the loan funds. Not all schools currently participate in this program. 

 

DISBURSEMENT:  The process by which financial aid funds are made available to students for use in meeting educational and related living expenses. Funds may be disbursed directly to the student, or applied to the student's account.

 

EARLY ACTION ~ EARLY ADMISSION ~ EARLY DECISION:  An early action program has earlier deadlines and earlier notification dates than the regular admissions process.  This is not a binding commitment and allows the student to submit additional applications and to accept or decline the offer of admission by May 1st.  An early admission program allows exemplary high school juniors to skip their senior year and enroll directly in college. An early decision program has earlier deadlines and earlier notification dates than the regular admissions process and students who apply to an early decision program commit to attending the school if admitted (which means the student must accept the offer of admission before they see their financial aid package.)  The student MUST withdraw all other applications.

 

ENROLLMENT STATUS:  Indication of whether a student attends full or part-time. Typically students must be enrolled at least half-time (and in some cases full-time) to qualify for financial aid.

 

ETS:  Educational Testing Service, a nonprofit organization, which oversees the various testing and financial aid programs of the CEEB.

 

EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION (EFC):  The dollar amount that a family is expected to pay toward a student's educational costs. EFC is based on family earnings, assets, students in college and family size. 

 

FAFSA:  See Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

 

FEDERAL DIRECT STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM (FDSLP):  Loans provided by the U.S. government directly to students and their parents through their schools. 

 

FEDERAL METHODOLOGY:  The need analysis formula used to determine a family's expected family contribution. The Federal Methodology considers family size, the number of family members in college, taxable and nontaxable income and assets. 

 

FEDERAL PROCESSOR:  The Federal Processor is the organization that processes the information submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and uses it to compute eligibility for federal student aid. 

 

FEDERAL STAFFORD LOAN:  Federally-guaranteed, low-interest rate for students. There are two types of Federal Stafford loans: subsidized (need-based) and unsubsidized (non need-based). Both types allow deferment of payments until a student leaves school.

 

FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY GRANT (FSEOG): These are federal grants for students with exceptional financial need (as determined by the college). Approximately 5 percent of undergraduates are recipients of FSEOG. 

 

FEDERAL WORK-STUDY: Federally sponsored Work-Study (FWS) Program provides undergraduate and graduate students with school-year part-time employment. The Federal Government pays some of the student's salary, which helps departments and businesses pay for and ultimately hire students. Eligibility is based on financial need.

 

FEE WAIVER:  Request for reduction or elimination of application, testing or financial aid form fees, usually based upon financial need.

 

FELLOWSHIP:  Financial aid for graduate students that does not need to be repaid. (Typically includes tuition and living expenses.) 

 

FINANCIAL AID ADMINISTRATOR:  University employee responsible for preparing and communicating information about student loans, grants, scholarships and employment programs, and for advising, awarding, reporting, counseling and supervising student financial aid office functions.

 

FINANCIAL AID PACKAGE: The total amount of financial aid a student receives, including grants, loans, and federal work-study. Unsubsidized Stafford loans and PLUS loans are not considered part of the package. 

 

FINANCIAL AID TRANSCRIPT:  Form used by colleges to collect data about any financial aid awards a student received at other educational institutions.

 

FINANCIAL NEED: The difference between the student's educational costs and the Expected Family Contribution.

 

FIXED INTEREST LOANS:  Interest rate stays the same for the life of the loan.

 

FORBEARANCE:  The approved temporary suspension of loan payments due to a financial hardship (interest continues to accrue).

 

FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID (FAFSA): The application students must first complete to apply for virtually all forms of financial aid. Available on the WEB by following the links at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

 

GIFT AID:  Grants and scholarships that do not need to be repaid.

 

GPA:  Grade Point Average.

 

GRACE PERIOD:  The period after a student either graduates or leaves school and before loan payments must begin (typically six to nine months).

 

GRANT:  Financial aid that does not have to be paid back - typically based on financial need. 

 

GUARANTEE FEE:  A percentage of the loan that is paid to the guarantor to insure the loan against default. The fee is usually 1 percent of the loan amount.

 

GUARANTOR:  A state agency or private, nonprofit organization that administers a student loan insurance program. 

 

HOME EQUITY:  The current market value of the home minus the mortgage's unpaid principal (based on market value).

 

+Any special program for very able students which offers the opportunity for educational enrichment, independent study, acceleration or some combination of these.

 

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROGRAMME: The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is an intense curriculum for high school juniors and seniors that emphasizes intercultural understanding and enrichment.  It culminates in six rigorous subject exams.

 

INCOME CONTINGENT REPAYMENT: The size of the monthly payments depends on the income earned by the borrower. As the borrower's income increases, so do payments. 

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY:  An arrangement that allows students to complete some of their college program by studying independently instead of attending scheduled classes and completing group assignments. Typically, students plan programs of study in consultation with a faculty advisor or committee to whom they may report periodically and submit a final report for evaluation.

 

INSTITUTIONAL METHODOLOGY: A formula some schools devise to determine financial need for allocating their own institutional financial aid funds.

 

INTERNSHIPS: Short term, supervised work experience, usually related to a student's major, for which the student earns academic credit. The work can be full or part time, on or off campus paid or unpaid.

 

LENDER:  A bank, credit union or other financial institution that provides funds to the student or parent for an educational loan. 

 

LIBERAL ARTS: A broad course of instruction comprising the arts, natural sciences, languages, literature, philosophy, religion, and the classics.

 

MATRICULATION:  The process whereby a student is accepted, pays the fees, and enrolls in classes  officially becoming a student at the college. This term is only applied to freshmen or to a transfer student's first enrollment.

 

MERIT-BASED AID:  Financial aid based on academic, artistic, athletic or other merit-oriented criteria (not financial need).

 

NAVIANCE:  A comprehensive college and career readiness solution that assists students with post-secondary opportunities.

 

NEED-BLIND ADMISSION:  Financial need does not impact the admission process. The school decides whether to offer admission to a student without considering the student's financial situation. Most schools use a need-blind admissions process.

 

NEED-SENSITIVE ADMISSIONS:  The school takes the student's financial situation into account for some admissions decisions. Some schools use need-sensitive admissions for borderline students. 

 

NEEDS ANALYSIS:  The process used by a college to evaluate an applicant's financial resources and determine how much the student or family can pay toward the cost of the education. 

 

OPEN ADMISSIONS: The college admissions policy of admitting high school graduates and other adults generally without regard to conventional academic qualifications, such as high school subject, high school grades and admissions test scores, Virtually all applications with high school diplomas or their equivalent are accepted.

 

PACKAGING:  A financial aid administrator's attempt at combining various types of student aid (grants, loans, scholarship and employment) to attempt to meet a student's financial need.

 

PARENTS' CONTRIBUTION:  A quantitative estimate of the parents' ability to contribute to postsecondary educational expenses. 

 

PELL GRANT: Federal grant program for undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need and have not yet completed a baccalaureate degree.

 

PERKINS LOAN:  Low interest federal loan for students with exceptional financial need (as determined by the college). 

 

PLACEMENT TESTS:  A battery of tests designed to assess a student's aptitude and level of achievement in various academic areas so that he or she may be advised to enroll in the appropriate level classes.

 

PLUS LOANS (PARENT LOANS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS): Federal loans available to parents of dependent undergraduate students to help finance their child's education. Parents may borrow up to the difference between education costs and financial aid received from a bank or other lending institution.

 

PREPAID TUITION PLAN:  A college savings plan guaranteed to rise in value at the same rate as college tuition. Several states and institutions offer such programs. 

 

PRINCIPAL:  The amount borrowed or owed on a loan.

 

PRIVATE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY:  An educational institution of higher education which is not supported by public taxes. Private colleges may be independent or church related.

 

PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT: For need-based federal aid programs, financial aid administrators can adjust the expected family contribution (EFC), or the cost of attendance (COA), or change the dependency status (with documentation) when extenuating circumstances exist (for example, if a parent becomes unemployed, disabled or deceased). 

 

PROMISSORY NOTE:  Legally binding contract a student signs before receiving loan funds that details the terms of the loan and obligates the borrower to repay.

 

PSAT:  Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test

 

PUBLIC COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY:  An educational institution of higher education, which is supported by public taxes.

 

REGISTRATION:  A process at the beginning of each semester or quarter whereby the student selects the courses he or she will enroll in, pays the appropriate fees, and sets up a class schedule for the semester or term.

 

ROLLING ADMISSION:  Certain colleges or universities have a policy of admitting qualified students on a "first come, first served" basis. Applicants are notified of admission decisions as soon as credentials are submitted and processed.

 

ROTC:  (Reserved Officers Corps) Programs conducted by certain colleges in cooperation with the United States Air Force, Army and Navy. Local recruiting officers of the services themselves can supply detailed information about these programs, as can participating colleges.

 

SAT REASONING TESTS:  A three hour and forty-five minute standardized test that measures the critical reading, writing, and math abilities of the student.

 

SAT SUBJECT TESTS:  One hour subject tests that measure knowledge of particular subjects and the student's ability to apply that knowledge. Not all colleges require these tests. Students are responsible for checking individual college requirements.

 

SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS:  A school's policy concerning the minimum number of courses that must be completed each semester, the maximum time frame, and the minimum GPA required to receive financial aid. 

 

SCHOLARSHIP:  A form of financial assistance that does not require repayment or employment and which is usually offered to students who show potential for distinction, or who possess certain characteristics important to the scholarship provider (such as religious beliefs, hobbies, ethnicity, etc.).

 

SECONDARY MARKET:  An organization that buys loans from lenders, which provides the lender with the capital to issue new loans.

 

SEMINAR:  A course in which a small group of students, headed by a professional, engages in research and discussion.

 

SERVICER:  An organization that is paid by a lender to administer their student loan portfolio.

 

SIMPLIFIED NEEDS TEST:  An alternate method of calculating the expected family contribution for families with adjusted gross incomes less than $50,000, who have filed or are eligible to file an IRS Form 1040A or 1040 EZ or who are not required to file an income tax return. 

 

STATE STUDENT INCENTIVE GRANTS:  States receive matching funds from the federal government to help fund this program for state residents.

 

STUDENT AID REPORT (SAR):  The official notification sent to students after submitting the FAFSA. Students may be required to submit this document to the college's financial aid office. 

 

STUDENT CONTRIBUTION:  A quantitative estimate of the student's ability to contribute to post secondary education expenses.

 

SUBSIDIZED LOAN: A loan that student borrowers do not have to pay interest on until after their grace period expires.

 

SUNY:  State University of New York

 

SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY GRANT (SEOG): Federal grant program for undergraduate students with exceptional need. SEOG grants up to $4,000 are awarded by the school's financial aid office.

 

TITLE IV PROGRAMS:  Federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Includes Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work Study, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Stafford Loan, Federal PLUS Loan, Direct Loan, Direct PLUS Loan and SSIG. 

 

TOEFL:  Test of English as a Foreign Language which is taken by students whose English is their second language.

 

TRANSCRIPT:  The official record of a student's academic performance from the time of entrance in a given institution to the end of the latest semester.

 

TRANSFER PROGRAM:  An education program in a two year college that is offered primarily for students who plan to continue their studies in a four year college or university.

 

TRIMESTER:  An academic calendar period of about 15 weeks. Three trimesters make up one year. Students make normal progress by attending two of the trimesters each year and in some colleges can accelerate their programs by attending all three trimesters in one or more years.

 

TUlTION:  The charge for instruction. Generally designated for a year or semester for full-time students, for part-time students it is often designated by the credit hour of a course.

 

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT:  A student who has not yet received a bachelor's degree.

 

UNMET NEED:  Difference between a student's total cost of attendance at a specific institution and the student's total available resources, including financial aid. 

 

UNSUBSIDIZED LOAN:  A loan that student borrowers must pay all the interest on, including while they are enrolled.

 

VERIFICATION:  The review process in which the financial aid officer requests documentation from a financial aid applicant to verify the accuracy of the application.

 

WORK-STUDY:  See 'Federal Work Study' for a description of the federally subsidized work-study program.