Financial Aid Terms

Academic year: Carleton’s academic year consists of three terms that include fall, winter, and spring enrollment periods.

Accrue: The process in which interest accumulates on a loan. When “interest accrues on a loan,” the interest due on the loan is accumulating.

Comprehensive fee or direct costs: Charges billed by Carleton, including tuition, activity fee, housing, and food.

Cost of attendance: The estimated cost to attend Carleton for one academic year (fall, winter, and spring terms). It includes direct and indirect costs.

CSS Profile: A financial aid application for all students regardless of citizenship.

Demonstrated financial need or demonstrated need: The difference between the cost of attendance and your family contribution, which we calculate based on your financial aid application.

Consolidation: The process of combining one or more loans into a single new loan.

Data Release Number (DRN): A four-digit number assigned to a student’s FAFSA that allows the student to release the FAFSA information to Carleton if it was not originally listed on the FAFSA.

Default: Failure to repay a loan according to the terms agreed to when you signed a promissory note. For the Direct Loan programs, default occurs if you fail to make a payment for 270 days. The consequences of default are severe and can include action to recover the money, notifying national credit bureaus, IRS withholding tax refunds, or having your employer withhold part of your wages (garnishment).

Enrollment status: The number of credits a student is registered for during a term at Carleton. Students must be enrolled for at least 12 credits each term.

Entrance Counseling: Counseling that 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. Entrance counseling is required for any student taking out a federal student loan. You must sign in to your loan account at studentaid.gov to complete counseling.

FAFSA: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (for U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents).

Family contribution: What your family should expect to pay for college. This is determined in the review of your CSS Profile and includes both a student and parent contribution.

FSA ID: The username and password combination that serves as a student’s or parent’s identifier to allow access to personal information in various U.S. Department of Education systems and acts as a digital signature on some online forms.

Grace period: After a borrower graduates or leaves Carleton, certain loans have several months before payments are due. This period is called the “grace period.” During the grace period, no interest accrues on subsidized loans. Interest accrues on unsubsidized loans during grace periods, and this interest is capitalized when borrowers’ loans enter repayment.

Grants/Scholarships: Grants and scholarships are gift aid, or money that you do not need to repay or earn through work. Grants are based on your financial need, as determined by the financial aid application.

Indirect costs: Money that you are estimated to spend while enrolled at Carleton, but that you do not pay to Carleton. This includes books, supplies, transportation, and any personal expenses. Your indirect costs will vary based on how you budget.

Interest: A charge (calculated as a percentage) on borrowed money.

Loans: Money that is borrowed and will need to be repaid, with interest.

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS): NSLDS is the U.S. Department of Education’s database for federal student financial aid. By using your U.S. Department of Education FSA ID, you can get information on federal loan and Federal Pell Grant amounts, outstanding balances, the status of your loans, and disbursements made.

Need-based aid: Aid based on financial need, rather than on merit or skills.

Net cost: The estimated amount you can expect to pay in one academic year. Net cost is calculated by subtracting the grants/scholarships from your cost of attendance. Your net cost is not your bill. You will be contacted by Student Accounts for all billing.

Outside scholarships: Funds received by the student outside of Carleton that are intended for educational expenses.

Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS): Federal loans taken out in your parent’s name to help you pay for college. Your parent(s) must pass a credit check to qualify for Parent PLUS loans.

Principal: The amount of money borrowed by the student or parent. Interest is charged on this amount.

Private loan: Not federal loans. They may be offered by banks, credit unions, state agencies, or schools. Private loan interest rates vary and may be higher than federal loan rates.

Promissory Note: A document you sign when taking out a loan, which means you promise to repay the loan. The promissory note also includes important language about your rights and responsibilities as a borrower.

Repayment: The process to pay back student loans (or other loans). Repayment for federal student loans begins six months after you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): The minimum academic standing you must achieve to be eligible for federal, state, and Carleton financial aid. You must maintain a 1.8 GPA your first year, a 2.0 GPA in subsequent years, and complete 67 percent of your classes.

Sticker price: The estimated costs to attend Carleton prior to consideration of grant/scholarship eligibility. This includes both direct costs and estimated indirect costs like books and other personal expenses.

Student Aid Index (SAI): A calculated number that determines each student’s eligibility for certain types of federal and state student aid.

Student Aid Report (SAR): This is a summary of the information you submit on your FAFSA and provides you with your Student Aid Index (SAI). You should receive it by the next business day after your FAFSA has been processed.

Student employment: A paid position of up to 8 hours per week during the academic term your first year, and up to 10 hours per week during the term in following years. You can apply your earnings directly to your student account or receive your biweekly paycheck and apply it to indirect expenses.

Subsidized Loan: This is one of two types of federal direct student loans. Subsidized loans are offered based on financial need. The U.S. Department of Education will pay the interest on subsidized loans while you are enrolled in school and for the first six months after you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment. This means the total amount you owe on this loan will not begin to increase until six months after you leave school.

Unsubsidized Loan: This is one of two types of federal direct student loans. Unsubsidized loans will immediately earn interest. This means the total amount you owe on this loan will begin to increase while you are in school. You can pay the interest while you are in school.

Untaxed Income: All income received that is not reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or is reported but excluded from taxation. Such income would include but not be limited to untaxed capital gains, interest on tax-free bonds, dividend exclusion, and military and other subsistence and living allowances.

Verification: Verification is a process where Carleton confirms the data reported on your FAFSA. Carleton will contact you to request documentation that supports identity, income and other information that you reported. If the requested documentation is not provided, you may not be eligible for Title IV aid.