FAFSA SAI calculation error - how to know if my son's 3/22 SAI is affected?

yep just saw this on the news too... apparently they're going back and recalculating a bunch of SAIs? total disaster for students trying to make college decisions this month

This is definitely concerning, but try not to panic yet. The Department of Education announced they're working to directly notify affected students. From what I understand, this error primarily affected students with siblings in college or those with certain types of untaxed income. If your son's financial situation doesn't include those elements, he might not be impacted. For peace of mind, I'd recommend: 1. Check your email daily (including spam) for notices from studentaid.gov 2. Log into the studentaid.gov portal regularly to see if there are any alerts 3. Contact your son's college financial aid offices to ask if they've received any guidance Most importantly, document everything. Save screenshots of his current SAI calculation and any aid offers you've received.

my daughter got her SAI around the same time and we havent heard anything about errors! honestly the whole FAFSA rollout this year has been such a mess, first the delays and now this. making me miss the old system tbh

I work in a college financial aid office, and we've been informed that approximately 200,000 FAFSA applicants were affected by this calculation error. The Department of Education is currently identifying affected students and will be sending notifications directly. The error primarily impacted students with multiple family members in college simultaneously or those with specific types of untaxed income. The issue caused some SAIs to be artificially lower than they should be (showing more need). If your son's SAI is affected, both you and his selected schools will receive notification from Federal Student Aid. Schools have been instructed to hold off on adjusting any aid packages until the corrected calculations are processed. Most institutions are developing policies to minimize negative impacts on students who made decisions based on incorrect information.

This whole FAFSA system this year is COMPLETELY BROKEN!! First the 3 month delay, then the contributor problems, now calculation errors?? My daughter's financial aid is probably wrong too but how would we even know? The colleges already sent award letters! Are they going to take back money now?? This is INSANE and nobody at FSA even answers their phones!!

I was having the same panic attack yesterday when I saw this news! I spent HOURS trying to get through to someone at Federal Student Aid with no luck - constant busy signals or getting disconnected. Finally tried using Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got through to an FSA agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed that if your student's SAI was calculated incorrectly, you'll receive both an email and a notification in the studentaid.gov portal. They're starting to send these notices next week. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ if you're interested. The FSA agent also told me colleges have been instructed not to reduce aid packages for students who already received offers based on the incorrect SAIs.

im in the same boat, my SAI came in late March too. did anyone actually get notified about being affected yet? or is everyone just waiting to find out? this is so stressful with deposit deadlines coming up!!

I just saw an update from Federal Student Aid - they've started identifying affected students and will be sending notifications starting April 8th. They're also working with colleges to ensure students aren't negatively impacted by the error. If your son's SAI is affected, you should receive an email with specific instructions. The recalculation primarily affects students with siblings in college or certain untaxed income, and they expect the process to be completed by mid-April. One positive note: FSA has stated that if a student's corrected SAI results in less aid eligibility, colleges are being encouraged to honor their original aid packages for the 2024-2025 academic year. Many schools have already committed to this approach.

I'm dealing with this same anxiety! My daughter's SAI came through around the same time as your son's. What's been helpful for me is creating a spreadsheet to track everything - her current SAI, all the aid offers from different schools, and any communications we receive. I'm also screenshotting everything in case we need documentation later. One thing that gave me some peace of mind: I called a few of the colleges she applied to directly, and their financial aid offices were already aware of this issue and said they're prepared to work with families if corrections need to be made. They seemed much more responsive than trying to get through to FSA directly! Also keeping in mind that even if her SAI does get corrected upward, it sounds like most schools are going to honor their original offers for this year given the circumstances. Hang in there - we're all navigating this mess together!

I'm in the exact same situation! My daughter's SAI came through on 3/21 and I've been losing sleep over this news. What's really frustrating is that we can't even tell if we're affected until they decide to notify us. I've been checking studentaid.gov obsessively but there's no self-service way to verify if your SAI is part of the error batch. One thing I did was reach out directly to the financial aid offices at her top choice schools to let them know we're concerned about potential SAI corrections. Most were really understanding and said they're tracking this issue closely. A couple even said they'd give us a heads up if they receive any correction notices from FSA before we do. I'm trying to stay optimistic that the majority of SAIs are probably correct, but man, the timing with decision deadlines is just awful. Hoping we all hear something definitive soon!