FAFSA SAI Score Delays - Is 4 weeks normal to receive Student Aid Index?

mine took like 2.5 weeks. the system is SO messed up this year

It took our family 18 days from submission to receiving our daughter's SAI calculation. The processing times are significantly longer this year due to the new FAFSA system changes. If you have specific scholarship deadlines, I'd recommend contacting those schools directly to explain the FAFSA delay - many institutions are aware of the processing backlog and have adjusted their internal deadlines accordingly. You might also want to check if your application has any errors that could be delaying processing - log in and look for any alerts or messages in your student aid account.

I submitted on November 2nd and JUST got my SAI yesterday - that's almost a full month!!! And get this - they flagged me for 'verification' which means EVEN MORE DELAYS while I upload extra documents. I'm so fed up with this entire process I could scream. This new FAFSA system is a complete disaster and nobody at the Department of Education seems to care that students are missing deadlines!!!!!

Financial aid advisor here! Current processing times for the 2025-2026 FAFSA are averaging 14-21 days, but can extend to 28+ days during peak periods. This is significantly longer than previous years due to the system overhaul. A few important notes: 1. Processing time is NOT related to whether you'll be selected for verification 2. Most schools are aware of these delays and have adjusted scholarship deadlines 3. Double-check that your parents/contributors have all completed their sections 4. If you have special circumstances or urgent scholarship deadlines, contact your schools' financial aid offices directly Unfortunately, there's no way to expedite processing on the Federal Student Aid side, but rest assured that most institutions are building these delays into their timelines.

I was in the same boat last month - needed my SAI for early scholarships but was stuck in processing limbo. After two weeks of getting nowhere and constant busy signals when calling FSA, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me actually get through to someone at Federal Student Aid. They have a demo video (https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ) that shows how it works. Got through to an agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. The agent found that my application had a small error that was causing the delay but wasn't showing up on my end. They fixed it right there and I got my SAI three days later. Might be worth trying if you're up against scholarship deadlines!

I've been going through this FAFSA nightmare too. I submitted on October 18th and got my SAI on November 9th (22 days). My brother submitted his just 2 days after me and got his in only 8 days! There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the processing times. One thing I learned - if your parents have multiple kids in college and filed separately, that seems to cause delays. Also, my application that took longer was the one where I had to manually enter some W-2 information instead of using the IRS data retrieval tool. Maybe check if there's anything unusual about your application that might be causing extra review time?

has anyone had their sai change after they got it? my friend said hers changed twice after verification

My daughter's took exactly 19 days. But then her CSS Profile (which some private schools require) took another week after that. Make sure you check if any of your schools need the CSS Profile too - that's a separate application through College Board with its own timeline!

UPDATE: Just got my SAI this morning - took exactly 17 days! Looks like the average processing time from everyone's responses is around 2-3 weeks, though it can vary widely. For those still waiting, hang in there and definitely contact your schools about any upcoming deadlines. Most of mine were super understanding about the delays. Thank you all for your helpful responses! This community has been so supportive during this stressful process.