Help - Glossary
The following glossary listing contains definitions/descriptions of terms that are related to Federal student aid Title IV programs and/or acronyms..
The terms are listed according to alphabetical order. You can select the All link to view a listing of all of the glossary terms, or you may select the letter equal to the first letter of the term.
Glossary
Call for Cash
Requirement that a school return unsubstantiated funds previously drawn down. Pertains to schools using the Advance Pay funding method.Campus-Based Programs
Federally funded financial aid programs that are administered by eligible participating schools. Campus-Based Programs include Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS). Also see Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP).Cancellation
Releasing a borrower from the obligation to repay all or a portion of his or her loan.Capitalizing Interest
A process in which interest that has accrued but has not been paid is added to the loan principal. By increases the amount of the principal capitalization increases the total amount that must be repaid over time.Carry Forward/Carry Back
A special provision of the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program that allows an institution to transfer up to 10 percent of its annual FWS and FSEOG allocations back to the previous award year or forward to the next award year. In addition, a school may carry back funds from the current award year to pay student wages earned from May 1 through June 30 of the previous award year.Case Management Team (CMT)
See School Participation Team.Cash Advance
A transfer of funds from a federal agency (from an account in the U.S. Treasury through the Federal Reserve Bank) to a school, or institutional funds used in advance of a school receiving FSA funds.Cash Basis
The basis of accounting where revenues are recorded when cash is received, and expenditures are recorded when cash is disbursed.Cash On Hand (COH)
The amount of federal funds in the depositor account at the payee's financial institution which have not been disbursed. Cash on hand is calculated as the total funds received less he Federal share of disbursements made plus refunds received. The balance does not include accruals, accounts payable, or funds belonging to the Department of Education (e.g., interest earned). See also Excess Cash.Cash Management
The federal regulations contained in Subpart K of 34 CFR 668. These regulations establish the rules and procedures a school must follow to request, maintain, disburse, and otherwise manage FSA funds.Cash Monitoring Payment Method
One of the types of heightened monitoring that ED uses to monitor the operation of schools about whose administration of the FSA programs it has concern.Cash Pooling
For institutions permitted to do so, depositing federal funds for all FSA programs (except Direct Loans) in a single bank account.Central Processing System (CPS)
The CPS processes information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), calculates the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for each applicant, prints the Student Aid Report (SAR) that is sent to the student, and transmits the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) data electronically to the school(s) listed on the FAFSA. Data from the CPS system is used to verify eligible students.Certification
The act of attesting that something is true or meets a certain standard. For example, the school completes its section of a FFELP application, thereby confirming the borrower's eligibility for the guarantee and, if applicable, interest benefits and special allowance.Chart of Accounts
A list of financial account numbers, titles, and types of accounts arranged in a systematic way to help schools identify the accounts in their fiscal management system and ledgers. These accounts form the foundation for the school's FSA reporting process.Closeout Process
The process of closing a suspended grant award. The closeout process includes the following periods: liquidation, suspension, and closeout.Closeout Period
Closeout follows the suspension period. During this period, the award is closed and any remaining funds are de-obligated.Closing
The process of preparing, entering, and posting closing entries. A closing entry is a journal entry in which balances in revenue accounts and expense accounts are transferred to the fund balance at the end of the accounting period (calendar year or fiscal year). Because revenue accounts and expense accounts provide the information for a statement of operations of a given accounting period, it is essential these accounts have zero balances at the beginning of each new period. Asset, liability, and fund balance accounts are not closed at the end of the accounting period, as their balances carry over to the new period.Co-maker
One of two married individuals who jointly borrow a Consolidation loan, each of whom are eligible and who are jointly and separately liable for repayment of the loan. Also includes one of two parents who are joint borrowers as previously authorized in the PLUS Program.Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
The codification of the rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis. Education (Title 34) is updated on July 1st of each year. You can search the most recent CFR by accessing the following website: http://www.access.gpo.gov ara/cfr/cfr-tablesearch.html#page1.Cohort Default Rate
A measurement of the percentage of a school's borrowers who enter repayment in a federal fiscal year and default on their loans before the end of the next federal fiscal year.Collection
The activities and/or actions by lenders, guarantors, servicers, and collection agencies to obtain payment on unpaid loan principal and interest from a borrower after that borrower defaults on the loan.Collection Agency
A business organization that receives delinquent or defaulted loan accounts from lenders and attempts to collect on those accounts. A fee is charged for the service.Collection Charges
Costs incurred by the lender or its agents in collecting overdue payments. These charges may include, but are not limited to,attorney's fees, court costs, and telegrams. They may not include routine costs associated with preparing letters or notices or making telephone calls to the borrower.Common Application
A standardized application and promissory note developed by FFELP participants and approved by the Department by which a borrower applies for a FFELP loan. Common applications are periodically revised and approved to reflect major changes in FFELP regulations.Common Origination and Disbursement (COD)
The system for processing origination and disbursement reporting. The COD System accommodates the COD Process for Pell Grant and Direct Loan funding.Common Origination and Disbursement Technical Reference
A document focusing on the technical requirements of the COD system. It provides a COD system overview, a list of changes, processing information (e.g., comment codes and edits), print specifications, and technical specifications (e.g., Common Record layout, XML information). Located at: www.fsadownload.ed.gov.Common Record
The Common Record is a data transport mechanism used by trading partners participating in the FSA programs. The Common Record is a document formatted in Extensible Markup Language (XML).Community Service
A service identified by an institution of higher education, through formal or informal consultation with local nonprofit, governmental, and community-based organizations that is designed to improve the quality of life for community residents, particularly low-income individuals, or to solve particular problems related to their needs.Compliance Audit
See Audit and Independent Audit.Closeout Process
The process of closing a suspended grant award. The closeout process includes the following periods: liquidation, suspension, and closeout.Composite Score
A measure of financial responsibility for proprietary and private nonprofit institutions. ED uses the composite score to determine whether institutions demonstrate financial responsibility under the regulations in Subpart L of 34 CFR 668. Institutions provide the information that is used to perform these calculations in their required annual financial statement audits.Conflicting Information
Information held by any office at a school that bears upon a student's eligibility for Federal Student Aid and conflicts with the information on a student's FAFSA. Also see Verification.Confirmation
The process that takes the place of the previous requirement that the borrower sign a new note for each academic year (in Direct Loans) or period of enrollment (in FFEL). Schools must develop and document a confirmation process to ensure that a borrower wants subsequent loans. A student must accept, either actively or passively (i.e., through notification), the loan amount offered.Consolidation
Refinancing multiple education loans into one new loan with a new repayment term, monthly payments, and interest rate.Consortium Agreement
A written agreement between two or more eligible schools.Contra Account
The other side of an account where a reduction or offsetting deduction is recorded. For example, in Cash Control, if the GAPS account is debited, the contra account (the account to be credited) might be Accounts Receivable, GAPS.Contractual Agreement
A written agreement between an eligible school and an ineligible school.Control Account
A ledger account in which posting occurs simultaneously to a number of identical, similar, or related accounts, usually called subsidiary ledger accounts (the detail flows upward therefore supporting the control account). When these subsidiary ledger account balances are added together, the total should agree with the balance in the control account. A familiar example is accounts receivable. When several students have receivable balances in subsidiary accounts (an account receivable system), the sum of the balances for all the students agrees with the total in the general ledger, control account.Control Number
A 13-digit number assigned by GAPS to all payment requests. The control number is used to track the payment request during its processing by GAPS. It consists of the date of the request expressed as YYYYMMDD and a unique fivedigit sequence number.Correction
Data on the SAR/ISIR that was changed to correct a FAFSA error.Corrective Action
As part of any fine, any limitation, suspension, or termination proceeding, or any adverse finding in a report or review. ED may require a postsecondary institution to take corrective action. This action may include making payments to eligible students or repaying any illegally used funds to ED. ED may offset any funds to be repaid against any benefits or claims due to the institution from ED.Corrective Action Plan (CAP)
A written plan an institution submits to ED, as required by an ED official, a hearing official, or the U.S. Secretary of Education. In this plan, the institution explains what reasonable and appropriate steps it will take to remedy any ED-determined violation(s) of applicable laws, regulations, special arrangements, agreements, or limitations based on present or prior financial aid audit or program review findings.Cosigner
A person who signs the promissory note in addition to the borrower and is responsible for the obligation if the borrower does not pay.Cost of Attendance (COA)
Costs related to a student's enrollment in a postsecondary school for a defined academic period. COA components include tuition and fees, room and board, allowances for books and supplies, transportation, and miscellaneous personal expenses, along with other applicable expenses such as loan fees, dependent-care costs, costs related to a disability, and study-abroad costs, as outlined in Section 472 of the HEA. The EFC is subtracted from the COA to determine the student's need for aid.Coverdale Education Savings Account (ESA)
A savings account set up to pay education expenses of a designated beneficiary who must be under 18 when the account is created. Distributions are tax free if they are not more than the adjusted qualified education expensed for the school year.Credit Balance (Title IV)
Refers to those Title IV funds that exceed the student's allowable charges. A school must pay this balance directly to the student (or parent, if PLUS Loan funds create the credit balance) as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after the credit balance occurs (or no later than 14 days after the first day of classes of the payment period if the credit balance occurs on or before the first day of class).Credit Bureau
An agency that gathers and stores credit information on individuals. When a credit report is needed for a loan application, a credit bureau produces a report to the lender based on the gathered data. The lender also reports back to credit bureaus how much an individual borrowed and whether the individual makes payments when due.Current Charges
Charges assessed the student by the school for the current award year or the loan period for which the school certified or originated a FFEL or Direct Loan.Current Funding Level (CFL)
Total amount of cash available for a school to draw down at any point in time. A school's current funding level may be adjusted based on the amount of substantiated cash.Current Social Security Number
This is the number in the Current Social Security Number (SSN) field on the latest CPS Transaction used to establish an award for a student on the COD System. Current SSN is a component of the student identifier in the COD System.
