Key Terms & Definitions
Key Terms & Definitions have been clustered into the following Topic Areas:
FAFSA Processing
Account Username and Password (FSA ID): username and password used to log in to all Federal Student Aid products and tools on StudentAid.gov.
Contributor: any individual required to provide signature and consent on the FAFSA® form, including the student; the student’s spouse; a biological or adoptive parent; or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).
FAFSA FTI Consent: formal approval granted by an applicant and any applicable contributors for a given FAFSA cycle (e.g., December 2023 to September 2025 for the 2024-25 FAFSA form) to retrieve and use FTI to determine an applicant’s federal financial aid eligibility as well as permit the redisclosure of FTI by the Department to an eligible institution, state higher education agency, or a designated scholarship organization for the application, award, and administration of student aid programs. An applicant and contributor (if applicable) must provide consent once each year. If FAFSA FTI consent is not provided, the student will not be eligible for any Title IV aid until the appropriate consents are provided.
FAFSA Submission Summary: replaces the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the student’s output document providing a summary of data input on the FAFSA form.
Family Size: replaces the term “household size” on the FAFSA form. It captures the appropriate number of family members and dependents in the applicant’s household, within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or an eligible individual for purposes of the credit under section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
Federal Tax Information (FTI): is the data and information related to federal tax paying. It includes a return or return information received directly from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source such as the U.S. Department of Education pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6103(l)(13). FTI also includes any information created by the recipient that is derived from a federal return or return information received from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source. Other return information considered FTI includes the taxpayer's name; mailing address; identification numbers including Social Security number or employer identification number; any information extracted from a return, including names of dependents or the location of a business; information on whether a return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing; information contained on transcripts of accounts; the fact that a return was filed or examined; investigation or collection history; or tax balance due information.
Manually Provided Taxpayer Information: information from a tax return or the return itself that is provided and entered by a taxpayer, applicant, or contributor on the FAFSA, either because the tax information was not received from the IRS, or because the contributor filed a foreign tax return.
Negative Student Aid Index (Negative SAI): the Student Aid Index (SAI) can be a negative number (down to -1500) which can be used by institutions in determining students who have the most financial need. Note that when packaging a student for Title IV need-based aid, a negative SAI is converted to a 0 SAI in the packaging formula. For more information, see Student Aid Index (SAI) definition below.
Primary or Custodial Parent: for a dependent student whose parents are divorced or separated, the primary or custodial parent is the parent who provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support and is required to provide their information (and if applicable their spouse’s information) on the FAFSA form.
Provisionally Independent Student: if a student indicates they have unusual circumstances or indicates for the first time they are unaccompanied and homeless, or at risk of being homeless (without a designation from a specified entity), the FPS will consider the student to be provisionally independent and will allow them to fill out the FAFSA form as an independent student. The SAI will remain provisional and not official until the student’s college or career school makes a final determination. The ISIR will have a specific reject code that will require the financial aid administrator (FAA) to review, and if applicable, confirm the student’s independent status. The FAA will determine if the student’s circumstances make them eligible to apply independently and, if so, make any necessary updates to formally make the student independent.
Student Aid Index (SAI): replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their postsecondary education for a specific award year.
Packaging Aid
Food and Housing: replaces the terms “room and board” as a component within a student’s Cost of Attendance (COA).
Other Financial Assistance (OFA): term used in lieu of Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) when factoring in other aid to determine the amount of a student’s need- and non-need-based financial aid.
Packaging Formulas: need-based formula includes the following new terms (COA minus SAI minus OFA = Need); while the non-need-based formula now includes the following (COA minus OFA = Non-Need Eligibility).
Federal Pell Grant Program Eligibility
Enrollment Intensity: the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent used to determine a student’s annual Pell Grant award. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 or more credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be (7 ÷ 12) × 100% = 58%.
Maximum Pell Grant Eligibility: ability of a student to receive a maximum Pell Grant (amount determined annually by Congress) which depends on annually published federal poverty guidelines; the U.S. tax return adjusted gross income (or the equivalent for foreign tax filers); state of legal residence; family size; and tax filing status.
Minimum Pell Grant Eligibility: ability of a student to receive a minimum Pell Grant depending on annual published federal poverty guidelines, Adjusted Gross Income (or the equivalent for foreign tax filers), state of legal residence, and family size.
Restoration for Discharge: Pell Grant eligibility restored in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system due to an eligible borrower defense or other qualifying loan discharge. Eligibility is restored by the Department through an adjustment to the Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) percentage.
Special Rule for Pell Grants: replaces Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG) and Children of Fallen Heroes (CFH) Awards with new or modified eligibility criteria for students whose parent or guardian died in the line of duty while serving on active duty as a member of the Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001 or actively serving as and performing the duties of a public safety officer and is less than 33 years old as of the first January 1 of the processing year. Eligible students will receive a maximum Pell Grant regardless of their SAI.
Student Aid Index Calculated Pell Grant Eligibility: maximum Pell Grant minus the Student Aid Index rounded to the nearest $5 (not to exceed COA). For applicants with a calculated SAI that is greater than the corresponding award year’s maximum Pell Grant award or the calculated Pell Grant amount is less than the award year’s minimum Pell Grant, the applicant is not eligible for a Pell Grant unless they qualify for a minimum Pell Grant award.
Professional Judgement (PJ)
Special Circumstances: special or extenuating situations (such as the loss of a job) that impact a student’s financial condition and support a financial aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the SAI calculation on a case-by-case basis.
Unusual Circumstances: conditions that justify a financial aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status, commonly referred to as a dependency override, based on an unusual situation (e.g., human trafficking or parental abandonment).