To receive federal financial aid, you have to be either a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen. A U.S. citizen is one who was born in the United States (or District of Columbia) or who has been naturalized. In addition to the 50 states, citizenship may include those born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands. Nationals are also considered eligible for federal financial aid. The distinction between U.S. citizen and Nationals is drawn because while all U.S. citizens are considered Nationals, not all Nationals are U.S. citizens. Natives of American Samoa and Swain's Island are not U.S. citizens, but are Nationals and thus eligible for federal student aid.

Eligible noncitizens include:

• Permanent Residents as identified by:
• Form I-551
• Arrival/Departure Re­cord (CBP Form I-94) or the new Departure Record (Form I-94A) with the endorsement “Processed for I-551. Temporary Evidence of Lawful Admission for Permanent Residence. Valid until ____________. Employment Autho­rized.”
• An MRIV with U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector admission stamp and the statement "Upon Endorsement Serves as Temporary I-551 Evidencing Permanent Residence" for 1 year on the machine readable section. Valid for one year from date of endorsement on the stamp, which must be contained in an unexpired foreign passport.
• United States Travel Document (mint green cover), which replaces the Reentry Permit (Form I-327) and the Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).
• Refugees, until they are approved lawful permanent residence status, which can be applied for after one year.
• Persons granted asylum
• Victims of human trafficking
• Cuban-Haitian immigrants who have I-94 with stamp "Cuban-Haitian Entrant (Status Pending). Reviewable January 15, 1981. Employment authorized until January 15, 1981.” Note that a document showing that the holder is a Cuban-Haitian entrant is valid even if the expiration date has passed.
• Conditional entrants

There is a question on the FASFA which asks if you are a U.S. Citizen. When the FAFSA is filed, the Department of Education peforms a match with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify if you are a citizen of the United States. If DHS successfully performs a match and determines eligibility for financial aid, no further action must be taken. If DHS cannot confirm citizenship or eligible noncitizen status, the school must perform a secondary match. If the secondary match is required, you will be contacted by your college to submit necessary documentation to confirm that you are a citizen or eligible noncitizen.

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Wow, the acronyms in financial aid just grow and grow. It used to be only the financial aid professional who had to know acronyms, but now students are subjected to shortcut names for many financial aid programs. It's gotten so bad that many students may not even realize that some financial aid programs are acronyms. Their nicknames have become so commonplace and inline with the type of award that the acronym has replaced the actual full name. To tell the truth, I even had to look up the official names of TEACH and SMART. As a financial aid professional, I always refer to these programs using their acronym because of their lengthy real name. I have listed a few of the more common acronyms that you probably hear.

Financial aid awards:

• TEACH-Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education: a federal grant (and possible loan) for students who are majoring in teacher education and plan to teach in a high-need area upon graduation. The student must apply for this award and complete the FAFSA.
• ACG-Academic Competetiveness Grant: FAFSA-based grant for Pell Grant-eligible students who completed a rigorous high school curriculum.
• SMART-National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent: for students who are enrolled in certain degree programs related to science, technology, mathematics, engineering and some liberal arts. Degree programs are very defined. Student must be Pell Grant eligible, in the third or fourth year of college, and have a 3.0 grade point average.
• SEOG (or FSEOG)-Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant: a federal grant awarded to high-need students who file the FAFSA.
• FFEL (or FFELP)-Federal Family Education Loan Program: the federal student loan program where students select a bank in which to process the student loan.
• DL (or FDSLP)-Federal Direct Student Loan Program: same student loan program, but instead of choosing a bank, the loan is awarded through the Department of Education.

Keep in mind that each of these programs require filing the FAFSA, and each is different and will have additional eligibility criteria. Also, some aid like the SEOG is limited in funding and awarded on a first come-first served basis. I have provided just an overview of how awards are determined.

Other:

• FAFSA-Free Application for Federal Student Aid: the financial aid application to be considered for federal and some state financial aid programs. The form is completed online.
• SAR-Student Aid Report: the results you receive after filing the FAFSA. This information will come to you electronically using the email address you supply on the FAFSA. Review this report for accuracy.
• ISIR-Institutional Student Information Report: basically the same as the SAR, this document is what the school receives after you file the FAFSA.
• PC-Parent Contribution: for dependent students, this is a result of the federal formula used to determine what your parents should contribute toward your education. The PC comes from FAFSA information.
• SC-Student Contribution: The result from FAFSA information that is used to determine what you can contribute toward college expenses.
• EFC-Expected Family Contribution: For dependent students, it's the total of the PC and SC. For independent students, it's the SC.
• COA-Cost of Attendance: this is the total cost of education for one academic year as determined by the school you are attending.
• FAA-Financial Aid Administrator: pretty self-explanatory, but it's a person who works in the financial aid profession.
• FSA-Federal Student Aid: the term used to encompass all federal financial aid for which a student applies through the FAFSA.
• SAP-Satisfactory Academic Progress: a federal regulation where schools must establish a policy to make sure students are progressing through their education to continue getting federal and/or state financial aid. You must adhere to the school's policy.

This really is just scratching the surface of financial aid acronyms, but it should help with the more common lingo that you hear.

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Our United States government has a formula, the Federal Methodology, that attempts to create a financial picture of what families should be able to contribute to a student's education. When I started in financial aid back in the '80s, the federal financial aid application was a cumbersome paper application that included just about every aspect of a family's financial status. Fortunately, the application has morphed into the online FAFSA, which eases the pain in completing the application, but along with reducing the number of questions, it has removed some critical components of family expenses, such as home mortgage paid.

I mentioned the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) in my last post. So what exactly is the EFC, you ask? It's the end result of the information you supply on the FAFSA that's used to determine your 1) expected contribution to your education, and 2) your financial aid eligibility. The EFC is given to you on the summary of your FAFSA.

What you don't see is a place to record any debt that you have incurred. That monthly payment for your house or car, or those pesky credit card payments aren't considered at all. Items like high medical bills and health insurance are not taken into consideration unless you are able to appeal these costs to your fianncial aid office.

What it boils down to is that the Expected Family Contribution is the amount that the government says you should beable to save toward your college education. There's no chart to look at in determining financial aid eligibility based on a family's income, but from experience I can tell you that a family of four with an annual middle-class income ($50,000-$60,000) would probably land the student with an EFC of around $4,000 for an academic year. How realistic is it to expect this family to contribute $2,000 per semester to a student's education? A ranking Congressman is making $174,000 for 2009, so what do they know about scraping by on middle-class income, let alone trying to save for college?

I tried to break down a family's income of $55,000 into monthly income, but it's impossible to provide an accurate picture due to geographic locations. For metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York, this yearly income may border on poverty because of extremely high living expenses. Whereas with a rural area such as in Iowa or Illinois, a family may live more comfortably on this income.

Probably the most damaging is the student's income on the FAFSA. Whether you are a dependent student, or an independent without any dependents, if you work, you will probably pay with a higher Expected Family Contribution. It's a proverbial doubled-edged sword. You work to be self-sufficient and pay your bills, but the government expects you to save a portion of your earnings for college. How realistic is that?!

The answer to how much you can really afford to contribute to college expenses depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice. Give up the $200,000 home and rent. Sell your car and take the bus. Live on Ramen noodles instead of hamburgers. Give up the Smart phone and go back to a landline. Ditch the cable and pull out the old rabbit ears. Do they even make those any more?

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