Academic Year

This is the period during which school runs. The standard length of time is at least six months or 30 weeks of time.

Adjusted Available Income
This is the income, according to the federal government, after the deduction of all allowances.

Admit-Deny
The admit-deny practice is used by a few colleges. It is a practice that admits students with marginal standards, but does not give them any financial aid.

Adverse Credit History
Adverse credit history can impact the ability to qualify for a PLUS loan. Borrowers are considered to have adverse credit history if they have a debt that is 90 days or more old or if they have applied for Title IV bankruptcy.

Aggregator
This is an uncommon term, but an aggregator is any student who is awarded scholarships of a total value more than $100,000.  The reason this term is rarely mentioned is because very few students are able to attain this great a number of scholarships.

Amortization
This is a process that allows the borrower to gradually repay the loan over a long period of time.

Balloon Payment
This is a term that describes a larger than normal payment that is usually intended to repay the full balance of a loan without any sort of penalty. Not every loan will allow this sort of payment, so it is important to check your terms.

Borrower
This is the person who takes the loan from the bank.  

Bursar's Office
The Bursar’s office is the primary student accounts office at a given university. All financial information will generally be held there.  

College Work-Study (CWS)
A college work-study program is usually just a part-time job that is gained while at college. This is different from the federal work-study program.

Consolidation Loan
This loan is one that combines many different student loans into a single, larger loan. This can be used to ease the burden of other loans.

Cosigner

This is the person with whom responsibility for the loan will fall if the borrower has trouble repaying the loan.

Default
This is the state of a loan when it is not paid for 180 days or more. When a loan holder defaults on the loan, it can negatively impact their credit rating and wages can be withheld until the loan is repaid.

Federal Work-Study (FWS)
This is a program that arranged part-time employment for students at a given university to help them with the cost of tuition. The federal government foots the bill for much of the salary, making it much cheaper for the university to hire these students. This type of help is made for students with financial need.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
This is the form that is used by people to apply for different grants and other need-based financial aid. There is no charge for submitting this form, but it is very time consuming.