Award Letter: A notice from a financial aid office to a student that specifies the financial aid programs and dollar amounts that the student has been granted.

Consolidation: This process takes your existing student loans and combines them into one lower monthly payment. Performing student loan consolidation can reduce your payments by up to 60%. It saves money and provides additional options for loan repayment.

Cost of Attendance (COA): The total cost that the financial aid office estimates a student will incur during attendance at that college or university.

Default: Failure to repay a loan according to the terms agreed to when you signed a master promissory note. Default may also result from failure to submit requests for loan deferment or cancellation on time. The consequences of default are severe.

Deferment: A temporary period during which a borrower is not required to make payments. Deferments are more common in federal student loan programs rather than alternative loans. For subsidized Stafford Loan borrowers (and Perkins Loan borrowers), many deferments are subsidized, meaning the interest that accrues on the loan during the deferment is paid by the federal government. Some deferments are unsubsidized, meaning the interest that accrues must be paid by the borrower.

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