Here you’ll find the ABCs of terms you need to know in order to graduate debt-free!
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- Application Fee Waiver: The majority of college applications require a fee. The purpose of the application fee is to help the college or university you are applying to pay for the cost of reviewing your application and making an admissions decision.
- Assistantship: A paid appointment awarded annually to a qualified graduate student that requires part-time teaching, research, or residence hall duties.
- Default: Default is a failure to repay a loan outlined in the agreed promissory note. Most federal student loan default occurs when a payment isn’t made in more than 270 days. It can result in legal consequences and a loss of eligibility for additional federal student aid.
- Deferment: A deferment is a temporary postponement of payment on a loan that is allowed under certain conditions and during which interest generally does not accrue on Direct Subsidized Loans, the subsidized portion of Direct Consolidation Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, the subsidized portion of FFEL Consolidation Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans. All other federal student loans that are deferred will continue to accrue interest.
- Direct PLUS Loans: Federal loans that graduate or professional students and parents of dependent undergraduate students can use to help pay for college or career school.
- Endowment: University endowments are comprised of money that is donated to academic institutions. Institutions maintain a number of restricted endowments that are intended to fund specific areas within the institution, including professorships, scholarships, and fellowships.
- FAFSA: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is used by the federal government to determine a family’s eligibility for grants, work-study, and loans to pay for college.
- Fellowship: A merit-based scholarship for advanced (graduate) study of an academic subject.
- Forbearance: Student loan forbearance allows you to temporarily stop making payments but interest will still accrue.
- Grant: A grant is a form of financial aid that doesn’t have to be repaid. Grants can come from the federal government, your state government, your college or career school, or a private or nonprofit organization.
- Pell Grant: A Pell Grant is a federal grant awarded to students based on financial need for post-secondary education at colleges, universities, and career schools.
- Scholarship: Gifts that don’t have to be repaid and are designed to help students pay for an undergraduate degree. They can be a one-time gift or are renewable, depending on the scholarship.
- Student Aid Report (SAR): The Student Aid Report (SAR) is a paper or electronic document that gives you some basic information about your eligibility for federal student aid and lists your answers to the questions on your FAFSA.
- Subsidized Loan: federal loans that the government is paying the interest for you while you’re in school (a minimum of half time), during your post-graduation grace period, and if you need a loan deferment.
* You’re effectively getting your responsibility to pay that interest back “waived” with a subsidized loan during those time periods. Once you start repayment, the government stops paying on that interest, and your repayment amount includes the original amount of the loan, and the interest, accruing from that moment.
- Unsubsidized Loan: Federal loan that you are responsible for the interest from the moment the loan money is disbursed into your account. There’s no help on the interest; you’re responsible for the whole amount. When you start repaying, you’re paying the original amount plus the interest that accrued since the loan was paid to you.
- Work Study: Federal Work-Study provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need. To receive funds, you will need to be awarded work-study via FAFSA eligibility. The funds you earn are not applied directly to your tuition.