Use of Terms A-Z

Military Community and Family Policy writing guidance aligns with The Associated Press Stylebook with a few exceptions. Definitions of military-specific terms appear below, along with editorial guidance for certain commonly used words for MC&FP and our programs. See additional writing guidance in the Writing Best Practices section. Find program-specific guidance in the Program Content Guides section.

F

FAFSA – Acronym for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a form prospective college students complete to apply for financial aid. Spell out on first mention. Always use a noun after the acronym: Filling out the FAFSA form early can prevent delays. Make sure you meet all FAFSA deadlines. Include the registered trademark symbol (®) in the following circumstances:

  • Any prominent mention, including titles, all headers and subheads and web features such as action cards or other callouts
  • On first mention in running text: Filling out the FAFSA® form early can prevent delays. Make sure you meet all FAFSA deadlines.
  • On first mention in subsequent sections of a piece of content with multiple sections

Be sure the registered trademark symbol is superscript: FAFSA®.

Four-H Club – 4-H Club is preferred. Members are 4-H’ers.

free – Use free when the target audience is the military community, service members and family members. Free is easily understood and preferred when writing content for service and family members and service providers and should be used instead of no cost. However, there are two exceptions:

  • When writing content for leaders pertaining to Military OneSource policy or the Military OneSource contract, use the term no cost.
  • When writing for MilTax, use free or no cost as needed for the best way to convey the messaging. MilTax does not have restrictions on when to use no cost versus free. Review the MilTax Program Content Guide and the most current MilTax communication plan for more information.