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
Reauthorization
The process of continuing and changing current legislation because the existing law has expired and has to be reenacted. It is conducted every five to seven years in the case of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The most recent HEA reauthorization was in 1998.Recipient System
A system that contains a list of all organizations doing business with the Department of Education. The system maintains each organization's name, address, and D-U-N-S Number or SSN.Reconciliation File (Reconciliation Report)
A onerecord summary of the award and disbursement data in COD for an individual Pell Grant recipient.Reconciliation of Cash
A confirmation that the cash amount shown in a school's accounting records agrees with the cash amount reported by the school's bank.Reconciliation of Federal Funds
Balancing the school's records of federal funds received, expended, and returned against ED's records. Reconciliation should be performed monthly, and a yearly reconciliation of the same items should be conducted as part of the school's most recent audit.Reference
An individual to whom inquiries may be made regarding another person's character, ability, or whereabouts. A lender generally will ask a borrower to provide the names, phone numbers, and addresses of at least three individuals to be used as references for the borrower. In the event that the lender loses track of the borrower's whereabouts, the lender will contact these individuals to try to find the borrower.Refund
The return of interest or excess cash to ED from GAPS drawdowns or the return of audit and program review liabilities and fines. For a student who withdraws, the required return of funds by a school to the Title IV programs is called the "Return of Title IV funds."
Sometimes used by schools to refer to the distribution of a credit balance to a student.Refund Policy
A school policy that determines the conditions under which a student is entitled to a refund of payments made to the school, or whether the student owes the school for outstanding charges.
Participating schools are required to have school refund policies and to describe them in their consumer information.Regular Student
A person who is enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a school for the purpose of obtaining a degree, certificate, or other recognized educational credential offered by that school.Rehabilitation (of a defaulted loan)
A process by which a borrower may bring a loan out of default by adhering to specified repayment requirements.Reimbursement Analyst
See Payment Analyst.Reimbursement Payment Method
One of the methods under which ED provides funds to participating schools. A school on reimbursement must disburse assistance from its own funds and document that it has made appropriate disbursements to eligible students in eligible programs before ED will reimburse the school for its expenditures.Reinstatement (of borrower FSA eligibility)
A process by which a borrower with a defaulted FSA loan may regain eligibility for FSA aid by adhering to strict repayment requirements.Rejected ISIR/SAR
When significant information is missing, incomplete, or contradictory, the CPS cannot calculate an EFC and the record is rejected.Release of Proceeds
Disbursement of loan proceeds by the school to the borrower. Release of proceeds is not disbursement of proceeds by the lender.Release Record
In the COD Process, a record that changes an Edit Only or Anticipated Disbursement to an Actual Disbursement Record.Releasing Campus-Based Program Funds
Action by ED that reduces all or part of a school's allocation for a Campus-Based program. This reduction usually results from an institution releasing funds back to the federal government that will not be used during the period for which the funds were allocated.Renewal FAFSA
A FAFSA that is pre-populated with the student's prior year data and used for updating for the upcoming (next) award year. To use the Renewal FAFSA, the student must have an eligible FAFSA transaction for the preceding award year. The student may access the Renewal FAFSA via the Web.Repayment
The time during which a borrower actively pays back an education loan.Repayment Period
The period during which interest accrues on a borrower's loan and principal payments are required. The repayment period excludes any period of authorized deferment or forbearance.Repayment Schedule
A legal addendum to a Promissory Note stating the terms of loan repayment and fulfilling disclosure requirements. The Repayment Schedule is a plan that indicates the total principal and interest due, an installment amount, and the number of installments required to pay the loan in full. The Repayment Schedule also contains the interest rate for the loan(s) included on the schedule, the due date of the first and subsequent installments, and the frequency of installments.Repayment Start Date
The date the repayment period begins. For Federal Stafford loans, repayment begins on the day following the last day of the grace period. For Federal PLUS, repayment begins on the date the loan is fully disbursed.Reporting School
The school that sends and receives data for the campuses or students it serves. The reporting school must be a school and cannot be a third-party servicer.Restricted Fund
A restricted fund is made up of a self-balancing group of accounts: assets, liabilities, capital (fund balance), revenues, and expenses. It is important to note that individual funds are separated completely from one another and from the general fund of the school and are self-balancing.Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4)
When a recipient of Title IV aid withdraws from an institution during a payment period or period of enrollment in which the recipient began attendance, the institution must calculate the amount of Title IV aid the recipient earned and return the unearned portion that it is responsible for and notify the student of any amount the student must return.Roster File
This file is the output document from the Enrollment Reporting Process. The Roster File lists all Direct Loan Program and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program borrowers at a school who were last reported as enrolled at the school. Formerly known as Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR). Also see Enrollment Reporting.Routing Identifier
An identifier established by the U.S. Department of Education in award year 2002-2003 as an identifier assigned to schools and Third Party Servicers that is common across the Pell Grant and Direct Loan programs. A randomly generated eight-digit number that replaces the Pell Institution Number and Direct Loan (E/G) School code for the reporting of Pell Grant and Direct Loan data. Previously referred to as the Common School Identifier (CSID).
