Help › Words we use
Words we use
The words in AidAhead, in plain language, the same as the app's glossary.
- Aid index
- The Student Aid Index from the FAFSA®. Colleges use it to decide need-based aid. Lower means more aid; it can go as low as −1,500.
- Award letter
- A college's offer of aid for a school year: grants and scholarships, loans and work-study. Some colleges call it a financial aid offer.
- Base year
- The tax year a FAFSA uses: two years before the school year starts. A school year starting in fall 2028 uses 2026 taxes.
- Cost per year
- Tuition, fees, housing, food, books and other costs for one school year, before any aid. Also called the cost of attendance.
- CSS Profile®
- A form many private colleges use alongside the FAFSA to award their own aid. Each college applies its own rules to it.
- Custodial account
- An account held for a child under a UTMA or UGMA law. The FAFSA counts it as the student's.
- FAFSA
- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's free at studentaid.gov and opens Oct 1 the year before college starts.
- Grant or scholarship
- Aid that isn't repaid.
- Merit aid
- A scholarship for grades, test scores or talent, whatever the family's finances.
- Need
- A college's cost minus the aid index, never below zero. Need-based aid is awarded against it.
- Net price
- The cost minus grants and scholarships. Loans and work-study help pay it but aren't taken off.
- Parent PLUS
- A federal loan that parents take out and repay, with interest, for a child's college.
- Pell Grant
- A federal grant for students with financial need. It isn't repaid.
- Priority date
- A college's date to file its aid forms by to be first in line for its own aid. Each college sets its own.
- Recovery code
- The code AidAhead shows once when your plan is first encrypted. It opens the plan if you lose access to your devices.
- School year
- The year of college an estimate is for, such as 2028-29. Official forms call it the award year.
- Work-study
- A part-time job, often on campus, that the student earns during the year.
- 529 plan
- A college savings account. One owned by a parent for this student counts as a parent's asset on the FAFSA.