Education

Internship is a part time job during the academic year or the summer months in which a student receives supervised practical training in a their field. Internships are often very closely related to the student's academic and career goals, and may serve as a preparer to professional employment. Some internships provide very close supervision by a mentor in an apprenticeship like relationship. Some internships provide the student with monetary compensation.

Graduate Assistantships are either teaching assistantships or research assistantships. Teaching assistantships and research assistantships receive a full or partial tuition waiver and a small living amount. Teaching assistantships are required to perform teaching duties. Research assistantships are required to perform research duties not necessarily related to the student's thesis research.

Grace Period is a short time period after graduation during which the borrower is not required to begin repaying his or her student loans. The grace period may also kick in if the borrower leaves school for a reason other than graduation or drops below half time enrollment. Depending on the type of loan, you will have a grace period of six months for Stafford Loans or nine months for Perkins Loans before you must start making payments on your student loans. The PLUS Loans do not have a grace period.

If your parents are separated or divorced, the Custodial parent is responsible for filling out the FAFSA. The custodial parent is the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. This is not necessarily the same as the parent who has legal custody. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided you with the most financial support should fill out the FAFSA. This is probably the parent who claimed you as a dependent on their tax return. If you have not received any support from either parent during the past 12 months, use the most recent calendar year for which you received some support from a parent or lived with either parent.

Fellowship is a form of aid given to graduate students to help support their education. Some fellowships include a tuition waiver or a payment to the university instead of tuition. Most fellowships include an amount to cover reasonable living expenses. Fellowships are a form of gift aid and do not have to be repaid.

The Award Letter is an official document issued by the schools financial aid office that lists all of the financial aid awarded to the student. This letter provides details on their analysis of your financial need and the breakdown of your financial aid package according to amount, source and type of aid. The award letter will include the terms and conditions for the financial aid and information about the cost of attendance. You are required to sign a copy of the letter, indicating whether you accept or decline each source of aid, and return it to the financial aid office. Some schools call the award letter the Financial Aid Notification.

The US Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education does not currently provide any funding for home schooling. Many states require that home schooled children take the GED to be eligible for state aid for college. To be eligible for federal student aid, the student must pass an independently administered test that is used to determine the student's ability to benefit from postsecondary education. Tests approved by the US Department of Education include the ACT, ASVAB, ASSET, BEST, ETS TALS forms A and B, GED, PSAT, SAT, SLEP, TABE, TOEFL and several others. Call 1-800-4-FED-AID for a full list of approved tests. You can call the National Home Study Council at 1-202-234-5100 or writing to the Executive Director, National Home Study Council, 1601 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 for additional information. Also you can call the Office of the Secretary of the US Department of Education at 1-202-401-1365.

The code abbreviations on the bottom of the Student Aid Report represent intermediate results in the need analysis. The meanings of the codes are as follows: EFC = Expected Family Contribution, TI = Total Income, ATI = Allowances Against Total Income, STX = State and Other Tax Allowance, EA = Employment Allowance, IPA = Income Protection Allowance. CAI = Contribution from Available Income, DNW = Discretionary Net Worth, APA = Education Savings and Asset Protection Allowance, PCA = Parents' Contribution from Assets, AAI = Adjusted Available Income, TPC = Total Parents' Contribution, TSC = Total Student's Contribution, PC = Parents' Contribution, SIC = Dependent Student's Income Contribution, SCA = Dependent Student's Contribution from Assets.

No. Only the original FAFSA form produced by the US Department of Education is acceptable. Photocopies, facsimiles, reproductions, and electronic versions are all Not acceptable.