FAFSA Estimator

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number calculated from your FAFSA that colleges use to determine how much federal financial aid you may receive. It replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) starting with the 2024-2025 award year. A lower SAI generally means more aid eligibility. The SAI can even be negative (as low as -1500), indicating the highest need.

Financial need is calculated by subtracting your Student Aid Index (SAI) from the school's Cost of Attendance (COA). For example, if a school's COA is $30,000 and your SAI is $5,000, your financial need is $25,000. This is the maximum amount of need-based aid you could receive, though actual awards depend on each school's available funds.

Your SAI is determined by several factors including parent and student income, parent and student assets, family size, number of family members in college, and dependency status. Income generally has the largest impact. Parent assets are assessed at up to 5.64%, while student assets are assessed at a flat 20% rate.

Untaxed income includes items like Social Security benefits (taxable and untaxable portions), child support received, housing allowances, veterans' non-education benefits, and certain other tax-exempt income. These amounts are added to your adjusted gross income when calculating your SAI, so they do affect your aid eligibility.

Student assets include money in savings and checking accounts, trust funds accessible to the student, taxable investments like stocks and bonds, and non-retirement investment accounts. Student assets are weighted more heavily than parent assets — assessed at 20% versus up to 5.64% for parents — so they have a larger per-dollar impact on your SAI.

No — qualified retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, IRAs, SEP-IRAs, and pension funds are not counted as assets on the FAFSA. However, withdrawals from retirement accounts that show up as income on your tax return will affect your SAI. It's generally better to keep savings in retirement accounts than in regular savings when possible.

Under the 2024-2025 FAFSA simplification changes, having multiple children in college no longer automatically reduces each student's SAI as it once did. However, each student in college files their own FAFSA and each school's financial aid office may still consider your overall family situation when packaging awards.

This estimator uses a simplified model of the federal SAI formula to give you a reasonable ballpark figure. Actual SAI calculations involve additional factors and data points from your full FAFSA submission. For a precise estimate, use the official Federal Student Aid Estimator at studentaid.gov, or the net price calculator on your target school's website.