EFC: The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) measures your family's financial strength, and is used to determine your eligibility for federal student aid during one school year. You receive an EFC based on the processing results of your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
FAFSA: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the application used to determine a student’s eligibility for federally subsidized loans, grants, and work-study funds. Although the CPS still accepts paper FAFSAs, processing is quicker when FAFSA is filed on the Web at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Fees: Special charges made by a college for activities or services such as health service and student government. Fees also may be for facilities such as computers or athletic lockers, or for a breakage or damage deposit in laboratory courses. Fees are usually separate from tuition.
Financial Aid: The money awarded to a student based on financial need. Colleges award need-based financial aid in a financial aid “package” that may contain loans, grants, and work-study money. Financial aid also may mean any money awarded to a student, including merit based scholarships.
Grant: Money awarded to a student based on financial need. Grants may come from state, federal, or school funds, and do not have to be repaid.
Loans: Most financial aid comes in the form of loans, aid that must be repaid. Most loans that are awarded based on financial need are low-interest loans sponsored by the federal government. There are, however, multiple sources and types of loans, so be sure to contact your financial aid office for more details and the best option for you.
PIN: A PIN is a 4-digit numeric code or a 6-digit alpha code that you need to:
SAR: A Student Aid Report (SAR) is a document you will receive after your FAFSA is processed. Your SAR will list all of the answers you provided on your FAFSA. You should review these answers carefully to make sure they are correct. If you need to make any changes, you can do so on the SAR and mail it back to the address provided, or you can go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and select "Make Corrections to a Processed FAFSA" from the FAFSA Follow-up section.
Your SAR will also contain your EFC (Expected Family Contribution), which measures your family's financial strength, and is used to determine your eligibility for federal student aid. Your school will use this number to decide how much financial aid you are eligible to receive based on your school's cost of attendance.
If you did not provide electronic signatures or paper signature pages with your FAFSA, you must sign the SAR and mail it back to the address provided for final processing.
Stipend: Amount of money per credit hour set by the General Assembly to be held in trust for and paid on behalf of an eligible undergraduate student pursuant to the College Opportunity Fund.
Tuition: The charge made by a college to cover the cost of teaching and instruction. Usually it is separate from other fees for special activities or programs. See Fees.
Work Study Program: A financial aid program in which students work while they attend school. Usually work-study is part of students’ financial aid “package.” The work may be related to students’ course of study, or credited toward payment of tuition, or simply a job to help pay expenses.
WUE: Western Undergraduate Exchange, a program of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Through WUE, students in western states may enroll in many two-year and four-year college programs at a reduced tuition level: 150 percent of the institution’s regular resident tuition. WUE tuition is considerably less than nonresident tuition.
All term definitions taken from www.collegeincolorado.org glossary of terms and www.fafsa.ed.gov FAQ page.
