FAFSA Simplification Key Terms

FAFSA Processing

• Account Username and Password (FSA ID): username and password used to log in to all Federal Student Aid products and tools on StudentAid.gov.
• Contributor: any individual required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA® form, including the student; the student’s spouse; a biological or adoptive parent; or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).
• FAFSA Privacy Act Consent: formal consent provided by an applicant and any applicable contributor(s) for a given FAFSA cycle (e.g., December 2023 to September 2025 for the 2024-25 FAFSA form) that meets the statutory requirements of collecting and using an individual’s personally-identifiably information (PII) under the Privacy Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. § 552a). PII provided on the FAFSA (e.g., name, date of birth, social security number) with consent of the individual, will be provided to the IRS to conduct a match in order for the Department to receive FTI for purposes of determining an applicant’s federal financial aid eligibility and permit further redisclosure of FTI by the Department. For more information, see FAFSA FTI Approval above.
• FAFSA Submission Summary: replaces the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the student’s output document providing a summary of data input on the FAFSA form.
• Family Size: replaces the term “household size” on the FAFSA form. It captures the appropriate number of family members and dependents in the applicant’s household, within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or an eligible individual for purposes of the credit under section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
• Federal Tax Information (FTI): is the data and information related to federal tax paying. It includes a return or return information received directly from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source such as the U.S. Department of Education pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6103(l)(13). FTI also includes any information created by the recipient that is derived from a federal return or return information received from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source. Other return information considered FTI includes the taxpayer’s name; mailing address; identification numbers including Social Security number or employer identification number; any information extracted from a return, including names of dependents or the location of a business; information on whether a return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing; information contained on transcripts of accounts; the fact that a return was filed or examined; investigation or collection history; or tax balance due information.
• Primary or Custodial Parent: for a dependent student whose parents are divorced or separated, the primary or custodial parent is the parent who provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support and is required to provide their information (and if applicable their spouse’s information) on the FAFSA form.
• Provisionally Independent Student: if a student indicates they have unusual circumstances or indicates for the first time they are unaccompanied and homeless, or at risk of being homeless (without a designation from a specified entity), the FPS will consider the student to be provisionally independent and will allow them to fill out the FAFSA form as an independent student. The SAI will remain provisional and not official until the student’s college or career school makes a final determination. The ISIR will have a specific reject code that will require the financial aid administrator (FAA) to review, and if applicable, confirm the student’s independent status. The FAA will determine if the student’s circumstances make them eligible to apply independently and, if so, make any necessary updates to formally make the student independent.
• Student Aid Index (SAI): replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their postsecondary education for a specific award year.

Federal Pell Grant Program Eligibility

• Enrollment Intensity: the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent used to determine a student’s annual Pell Grant award. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 or more credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be (7 ÷ 12) × 100% = 58%.

Professional Judgement (PJ)

• Special Circumstances: special or extenuating situations (such as the loss of a job) that impact a student’s financial condition and support a financial aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the SAI calculation on a case-by-case basis.
• Unusual Circumstances: conditions that justify a financial aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status, commonly referred to as a dependency override, based on an unusual situation (e.g., human trafficking or parental abandonment).