Glossary
Consortium Agreement – A contract between two colleges that recognizes the registration of a student at each site for financial aid purposes. It also certifies that only one of the two colleges will administer Title IV financial aid for the student.
Cost of Attendance – A college's estimated cost to attend college for the period of enrollment. This includes tuition, fees, books, and living expenses.
Entrance Counseling – Ensures you understand the terms and conditions of your loan and your rights and responsibilities. You'll learn what a loan is, how interest works, your options for repayment, and how to avoid delinquency and default.
Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – A calculated number, based on the responses on a FAFSA, used to determine your eligibility for federal student financial aid. This will be replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI) beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) – An electronic or paper document that gives you some basic information about your eligibility for federal student aid. The FSS replaces the SAR and will be used beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – A form completed by current and future college students to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.
FSAid – A username and password combination you use to log in to U.S. Department of Education (ED) online systems. The FSA ID is your legal signature and shouldn't be created or used by anyone other than you.
In-School Deferment – A type of student loan deferment that lets you pause payments on your student loans while you're still enrolled in school at least on a half-time enrollment status.
Loan Period – The academic year or portion of an academic year that the loan is requested for.
Loan Servicer – a company that assigned to handle the billing and other services on federal student loans on the Department of Education's behalf.
Master Promissory Note (MPN) – Your signed promise to pay the federal government back for loans borrowed to attend college.
Return of Title IV Calculation – After a student withdraws a calculation is performed to determine the amount of federal funds the student has earned and the amount of unearned federal funds for which the school and the student is responsible to return, (if any).
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) – The process a school uses to measure a student's academic progress by evaluating a student’s cumulative grade point average (GPA), percentage of credit hours earned in relation to those attempted (Pace), and the length of the academic program. Kirkwood evaluates SAP after each semester.
School Code – An identifier that the U.S. Department of Education assigns to each college. Kirkwood's is 004076.
Student Aid Index (SAI) – A calculated number, based on the responses on a FAFSA, used to determine your eligibility for federal student financial aid. The SAI replaces EFC and will be used beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
Student Aid Report (SAR) – An electronic or paper document that gives you some basic information about your eligibility for federal student aid. This will be replaced by the FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
Title IV Aid – Federal student aid funds, which are from federal student aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education.
Verification – The process your school uses to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate. If you're selected for verification, your school will request additional documentation that supports the information you reported.
Withdrawal – When a student drops all classes (Official Withdrawal) or stops attending all classes (Unofficial Withdrawal).