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Key terms
Short definitions for the words that turn up on the FAFSA, on college aid pages and on aid offers, sorted A to Z.
- Award year
- The twelve months the federal aid system counts as one year: July 1 to June 30.
- Aid offer
- A letter from a college listing its cost of attendance and the aid it is offering; sometimes called an award letter.
- Contributor
- A parent, stepparent or spouse whose information and consent the FAFSA requires.
- Cost of attendance
- The college's estimate of a full year, including tuition, fees, housing, food, books, transportation and personal costs.
- CSS Profile
- An extra form used by some private colleges to award their own grants. It is separate from the FAFSA.
- Dependent student
- A student who must report parent information on the FAFSA, which covers most undergraduates under 24.
- Direct costs
- Charges the college bills, such as tuition, fees and campus housing.
- Enrollment intensity
- How much of a full-time load a student carries in a term, used to adjust a Pell Grant.
- FAFSA
- The federal form that colleges and most states use to decide need-based grant aid for a school year.
- FAFSA Submission Summary
- The summary a student receives after filing, showing the Student Aid Index and any flagged items.
- FSA ID
- The username and password for a StudentAid.gov account. Never share it.
- Gift aid
- Grants and scholarships: money that is neither earned through work nor returned later.
- Indirect costs
- Costs a college estimates but does not bill, such as books, transportation and other personal costs.
- Net price
- Cost of attendance minus gift aid.
- Pell Grant
- Federal grant money for undergraduates with financial need.
- Prior-prior year
- The older tax year a FAFSA reads, for example 2025 for a 2027–28 form; the year the FAFSA asks about.
- Priority date
- The date a college or state wants the FAFSA by to give a student the first look at limited funds.
- Professional judgment
- An aid office's authority to adjust a file when circumstances have changed.
- Scheduled award
- The Pell Grant for a full-time student across a full year, before enrollment adjustments.
- State grant
- Grant money from a state agency, often based on the FAFSA and sometimes limited by funds or dates.
- Student Aid Index (SAI)
- A figure calculated from the FAFSA that colleges use to measure financial need. It can be negative.
- Verification
- A routine check in which a college asks for documents confirming what the FAFSA reported.
- Year-round Pell
- Extra Pell payments for students who also enroll at least half time in a summer term.
Want the longer version? The guides use each of these terms in a worked example.