What exactly is the Student Aid Index (SAI) calculated by the FAFSA?
While the SAI isn’t a new concept – it replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA – it may cause some confusion for students and families.
The SAI, based on a range from –1500 to 999999, is calculated from the FAFSA information provided by the student and other contributors, if required, using a federal formula. It represents what the estimated level of financial need for a student. For dependent students, it is comprised of a student contribution and a parent contribution. The SAI will stay the same regardless of the college the student plans to attend.
It isn’t a dollar amount of financial aid that the student will receive or what the family must pay.
The SAI can be a negative number, as low as -1500. A low SAI means that the student has higher financial need. While a negative SAI won’t increase the amount of federal aid for the student, it will let the college know that this student has extreme need. The college could then award the student additional institutional aid, if applicable.
Institutions subtract the SAI from the institution’s cost of attendance for the student to determine whether the student is eligible for need based or non-need based financial aid. In the case of a negative SAI, the SAI is changed to a zero for the calculation.
Once the FAFSA form is processed by the Department of Education, an official SAI will be part of the FAFSA Submission Summary.
