Home Financial Terms Glossary

Financial Terms Glossary

Finance & Financial aid terms can be an alphabet soup of acronyms like FAFSA, SAR, SAP and EFC and technical terminology. It is almost like speaking a foreign language. This glossary defines the terms and acronyms that are most frequently used in basic finance or student financial aid.

Edvisors® allows the use of its glossary content by any college, university, non-profit, or other educational access agency, if the content is linked from the Edvisors® page. At any time Edvisors® may limit use per its Terms of Use policy.

TA

Teaching Assistantship

TANF

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a federal assistance program that provides cash assistance to low-income families with dependent children. It replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in 1996.

Tax Credit

Tax credits directly reduce the amount of taxes paid by a tax filer.

Tax Deduction

Tax deductions reduce the amount of an individual’s income that is taxed.

Tax Exemption

A tax exemption excludes a form of income from taxes. For example, interest earned on municipal bonds is exempt from federal income tax. It can also refer to a reduction in taxable income based on the number of dependents.

Tax Return

A tax return is a form that is filed by a taxpayer to determine the taxpayer’s tax liability. For example, IRS Form 1040 is a type of form used to file a federal income tax return.

T-Bill

A T-Bill or Treasury Bill is a form of short-term debt issues by the U.S. Treasury. T-Bills may be bought and sold on the open market in addition to being purchased directly from the U.S. Treasury.

TDD

Telephone Device for the Deaf

TEACH

Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant

TEACH Grant

The TEACH Grant is a forgivable loan that requires the recipient to work as a teacher in a national need area for a specified number of years after graduation. Although identified as a grant, it converts retroactively to an unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan if the recipient fails to fulfill the service requirement.

Teaching Assistantship

A teaching assistantship (TA) is a form of financial aid where a graduate student receives a full or partial tuition waiver and perhaps a living stipend in exchange for performing teaching duties such as grading homework and exams, holding tutorial sessions and teaching classes.

Testamentary

Testamentary means established by a deceased person’s last will and testament.

TI

Total Income

TILA

Truth in Lending Act of 1968

TIN

Taxpayer Identification Number

Title IV

Title IV refers to federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

TIV

Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965

TOEFL

Test Of English as a Foreign Language

Total and Permanent Disability

A borrower with a medically-determinable physical or mental impairment that prevents the borrower from engaging in substantial gainful activity is considered to have a total and permanent disability if the disability is expected to result in death, has lasted for a continuous period of at least 60 months or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 60 months. Veterans who have been determined by the federal Veterans Administration (VA) to be unemployable because of a service-related disability may also be considered to have a total and permanent disability. Borrowers with a total and permanent disability may have their federal education loans discharged.

Total Income

Total income is the sum of taxable income (the adjusted gross income) and untaxed income.

Transaction Number

Each time a student’s FAFSA is processed, a transaction number is assigned. For example, the initial FAFSA has a transaction number of 01. A correction to the initial FAFSA will have a transaction number of 02. If the applicant then adds several colleges to the FAFSA, the new Student Aid Report (SAR) will have a transaction number of 03. The transaction number is located in the lower right hand corner of each page of a paper SAR (after the Social Security number and the first two letters of the applicant’s last name) and in the upper right hand corner of the online version of the SAR (after the Social Security number).

Transcript

A transcript is a record of the classes taken by a student and the student’s academic performance.

Transfer Rate

The transfer rate is the percentage of the first-time, first-year undergraduate students who transfer to another college within 150 percent of the normal timeframe for attaining a degree or certificate.

Transfer Student

A transfer student is a student who enrolls in a college after having attended another college without completing the requirements for the degree. Transfer students may also include students who have graduated from a 2-year college with an Associate’s degree and are enrolling in a 4-year college to obtain a Bachelor’s degree.

Treasury Bill

A Treasury Bill is a form of short-term debt issues by the U.S. Treasury. Treasury Bills may be bought and sold on the open market in addition to being purchased directly from the U.S. Treasury.

Treasury Offset

A Treasury Offset occurs when the U.S. Treasury intercepts payments from the federal government to an individual, such as income tax refunds and Social Security benefit payments, and applies them to the individual’s debts.

TSP

Thrift Savings Plan

TTY

Teletype

Tuition and Fees

Tuition is the cost charged to students for academic instruction at a college or university. Although fees are intended to be payments for specific services, at many colleges the fees are a way of increasing direct revenue without increasing tuition. Families should consider the sum of tuition and fees as part of total college costs.

Tuition Installment Plan

A tuition installment plan is a short-term payment plan that allows the family to pay college costs in 9 or 10 equal monthly installments. Tuition installment plans typically charge an up-front fee of less than $100 but do not charge interest.

Tuition Waiver

A tuition waiver reduces or eliminates a student’s tuition and fee obligation, usually in exchange for services performed by the student, such as teaching or research duties, or serving as a resident assistant in a dormitory. Some colleges provide full or partial tuition waivers for employees and their dependents.