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The Student Aid Index is new measure of financial need
October 05, 2023
A new measure will be used to award federal financial aid beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA.
The Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA. Similar to the EFC, the SAI will be used in determining a student's eligibility for need-based aid.
The SAI can be a negative number and, although a negative SAI won’t increase the amount of federal aid for the student, it will let colleges know this student has extreme need. The college could then award the student additional institutional aid.
Institutions subtract the SAI from the institution’s cost of attendance for the student to determine whether the student has need for financial aid. In the case of a negative SAI, the SAI is changed to a zero for the calculation since the negative number can be subtracted.