FAFSA SAI doubled with two siblings in college - should it be split?

Your counselor is incorrect about how the SAI works with the revised FAFSA. Under the new system (2024-2025 and beyond), your SAI is NOT automatically divided by the number of college students in your household. The formula has changed significantly. What happens now is that each student receives their own individual SAI, and colleges use that number directly for determining aid. This actually tends to result in less aid overall for families with multiple students compared to the old EFC system. You should definitely contact each school's financial aid office and explain your situation. Some institutions have discretionary funds they can use to adjust aid packages for multiple-student households, but it's not automatic like it was under the old system.

i had same exact issue!! my twin sister and me both got SAI of 18700 each. last year with old FAFSA our efc was like 9500 total. our financial aid packages are WAY worse this year and we dont know what to do :

The other posters are correct - this is a major change with the new FAFSA. The "student multiplier" that used to reduce EFC for multiple college students was eliminated when they switched to the SAI system. However, there are still options: 1. Contact each financial aid office directly and explain your situation. While the federal formula doesn't automatically adjust for multiple students anymore, many schools have institutional policies to help families in your situation. 2. Submit a Professional Judgment appeal (sometimes called a Special Circumstances form) at each school. This is a formal request for the financial aid office to reconsider your aid based on circumstances not reflected in the FAFSA. 3. Look for additional scholarship opportunities to help offset the difference. The removal of the student multiplier was one of the most controversial aspects of the FAFSA Simplification Act, and many families are experiencing this exact situation.

Absolutely contact all three schools you're considering! Each school has different policies for handling multiple-student households under the new system. Some might be more generous than others with institutional aid to offset this change. When you contact them, be very specific: 1. Mention that you have a sibling currently enrolled at [specific university] 2. Note that your family's financial situation hasn't changed significantly from last year 3. Provide both last year's EFC and this year's SAI numbers to illustrate the impact While you're at it, ask each school if they have any specific scholarships for families with multiple college students. Many institutions created new scholarship programs specifically to address this FAFSA change.

my cousin works in financial aid and she says some colleges are automatically adjusting for siblings and some arent. depends on the school budget. private colleges with big endowments might help more than state schools who have less flexibility. good luck!!!

I spent 4 HOURS trying to get through to someone at Federal Student Aid to ask about this exact same issue last week! Kept getting disconnected or stuck on hold. Finally I found this service called Claimyr that got me connected to an FSA agent in about 15 minutes (https://claimyr.com). Their video demo shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent confirmed everything people are saying here - the sibling discount is gone from the federal formula. BUT she also told me to make sure both FAFSA applications correctly list each sibling as a college student, because some schools still use that info for their own aid calculations even if the federal formula doesn't. Worth checking your FAFSA to make sure that part is correct!

just wondering... did your family income go up at all? even a little bit? or did ur parents take money from retirement or something? sometimes small changes can have big impacts on the SAI calculation

One additional suggestion: If your brother's university has already prepared his financial aid package for next year, ask him to share those details with you. This will give you a concrete example of how his school is handling the new SAI calculation, which might help you when talking to your potential schools. Some universities are creating special sibling grants to compensate for the federal formula change. These aren't advertised prominently, but if you specifically ask about programs for families with multiple college students, financial aid officers can tell you what's available.

my twin had to do an appeal at her school and got an extra $3k per semester after explaining our situation. def worth trying!!!

This whole FAFSA "simplification" has been a DISASTER. First they delay the form until January, then the system crashes constantly, and now families with multiple students are getting LESS aid than before. How is that an improvement??? The Department of Education should be ASHAMED of themselves for how they've handled this. Families are making college decisions RIGHT NOW without knowing what aid they'll receive! The worst part is the complete LACK OF TRANSPARENCY about these formula changes. They sold it as "simplification" but didn't clearly explain that it would HURT families with multiple college students!

As someone who just went through this exact situation last year, I can confirm everything others are saying is accurate. The elimination of the sibling adjustment has been devastating for families like ours. Here's what actually worked for my family: I created a spreadsheet showing our old EFC vs. new SAI calculations and included it with every financial aid appeal. I also researched each school's endowment and recent tuition increases to tailor my appeals - schools with larger endowments were more responsive to requests for additional institutional aid. One thing that helped was getting a letter from my high school counselor explaining that our family's financial circumstances were identical to the previous year, which helped demonstrate that the SAI increase was purely due to the formula change, not actual financial improvements. The appeals process took about 6-8 weeks at most schools, so start ASAP. Also, don't just email - call and speak to someone directly. The financial aid officers I spoke with were generally sympathetic once they understood the situation. Good luck, and don't give up! This change has hurt so many families that schools are starting to develop better processes to address it.

I'm dealing with this exact same situation! My sister is a junior and I'm starting college this fall. Our SAIs came back at 19,850 each when her EFC was only 9,200 last year. It's honestly terrifying seeing how much less aid we're both going to get. I've already started reaching out to financial aid offices at my top choice schools, and the responses have been mixed. One private college told me they have a "sibling enrollment grant" that can help offset some of the difference, while a state school basically said their hands are tied by the federal formula. Has anyone had success with the Professional Judgment appeals that were mentioned? I'm wondering how long that process typically takes and what kind of documentation they want beyond just explaining the situation.

I'm new to this whole FAFSA process but wanted to share that I'm experiencing the exact same issue! My older sister is a sophomore and I'm starting college this fall. We both got SAIs of 22,100 each, which is crazy because her EFC was only 10,800 last year with the same family finances. Reading through all these comments has been both helpful and terrifying - I had no idea about this major formula change! Our high school counselor never mentioned that the sibling adjustment was eliminated. I'm definitely going to start calling financial aid offices this week and ask about sibling grants or Professional Judgment appeals. Does anyone know if it helps to mention specific numbers when talking to financial aid officers? Like should I tell them exactly what my sister's EFC was last year versus our SAIs this year to show the impact? I'm worried about coming across as too pushy, but this change could make college unaffordable for both of us. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences - it's scary but at least we're not alone in dealing with this!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm shocked to learn about this FAFSA formula change! I'm a high school senior with a brother who's currently a junior in college, and we haven't submitted our FAFSA applications yet. After reading all of these experiences, I'm terrified about what our SAI numbers are going to look like. My brother's EFC last year was around 12,500, so based on what everyone is describing, we might each get SAIs around 25,000? That would be absolutely devastating for our family. Our parents have been budgeting based on the assumption that the aid would work similarly to last year. Should I be proactively reaching out to financial aid offices at my prospective schools NOW to ask about their policies for multiple-student households? Or should I wait until we get our actual SAI numbers? I don't want to waste time if we're going to need to start the appeal process immediately after getting our results. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - this information is invaluable for families like mine who had no idea this change was coming!

As someone completely new to this process, I'm incredibly grateful for all the detailed advice shared here! My twin sister and I are both high school seniors heading to college next fall, and after reading through everyone's experiences, I'm now dreading what our FAFSA results will look like. Our parents have been saving and planning based on how financial aid worked for our older cousin a few years ago, so this formula change is going to be a huge shock to our family. It's honestly appalling that such a major change wasn't communicated more clearly to families during the application process. I'm definitely going to start calling financial aid offices at our prospective schools this week to ask about sibling grants and appeal processes BEFORE we even get our SAI numbers back. Better to be prepared! Has anyone had experience with how quickly schools respond to these proactive inquiries? I'm hoping to get a sense of which schools might be more helpful before we have to make our final decisions. Thank you to everyone who's shared their strategies and experiences - this community has been more helpful than our school counseling office!

As a newcomer to this community and the FAFSA process, I'm both grateful and terrified after reading all of these experiences! My sister is currently a freshman in college and I'm starting this fall. We haven't received our SAI results yet, but based on what everyone is sharing here, I'm expecting some serious sticker shock. Her EFC last year was around 13,800, so if the pattern holds, we're probably looking at SAIs around 27,000+ each. That's potentially double what our family was planning for! Our parents specifically chose their savings strategy based on the old EFC system, and this change could completely derail our college plans. I'm definitely taking everyone's advice and calling financial aid offices proactively this week rather than waiting for our results. The tip about preparing a spreadsheet comparison and getting a counselor letter seems brilliant - I'm going to start working on those right away. Has anyone had success explaining to schools that their families made college choices and financial commitments based on the old system? I'm wondering if emphasizing how this policy change has disrupted long-term family planning might resonate with financial aid officers. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this thread has been more informative than anything we got from our school counselors!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm absolutely shocked to learn about this FAFSA formula change! I have an older sister who's currently a junior in college, and I'm starting my freshman year this fall. We submitted our FAFSA applications two weeks ago and are still waiting for results, but after reading everyone's experiences here, I'm genuinely terrified about what we're going to see. My sister's EFC last year was 14,200, so based on the pattern everyone is describing, we might each end up with SAIs around 28,000+. That would be financially catastrophic for our family - our parents have been budgeting and making college decisions based on the assumption that the sibling adjustment would still apply. I'm incredibly frustrated that this major change wasn't clearly communicated during the application process. Our school counselor never mentioned that the federal formula had eliminated the sibling discount, and I'm sure we're not the only family that's going to be blindsided by this. Reading through all the advice here, I'm definitely going to start calling financial aid offices at my prospective schools THIS WEEK rather than waiting for our actual results. The proactive approach seems crucial based on everyone's experiences. I'm also going to prepare that spreadsheet comparison that several people mentioned and see if I can get a letter from our counselor. Thank you all for sharing such detailed strategies and experiences - this thread has been more informative than anything we've received from our school or the Department of Education. It's terrifying but at least we know we're not facing this alone!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm absolutely devastated to learn about this FAFSA formula change! My twin brother and I are both high school seniors heading to different colleges this fall, and we just received our SAI results yesterday - we each got 24,850 when our older sister's EFC was only 12,100 last year with virtually identical family finances. Our parents are in complete shock. They've been saving and planning for years based on how the system worked for our sister, and now we're looking at potentially tens of thousands more in costs that weren't budgeted for. It's honestly heartbreaking to see families being punished for having multiple children in college at the same time. After reading through all the incredible advice in this thread, I've already started calling financial aid offices at our prospective schools. So far, I've spoken to three schools - one private college mentioned they have a "family enrollment grant" that might help, while two state schools said they'd review our situation but couldn't make any promises. I'm also working on that spreadsheet comparison that several people mentioned to clearly show the financial impact of this formula change. Planning to get a letter from our counselor too explaining that our family circumstances are identical to last year. Thank you to everyone who's shared their experiences and strategies here - this community has been more helpful than our entire school guidance department! It's terrifying to navigate this, but at least we're not alone.

As a newcomer to this community, I'm absolutely horrified to discover this FAFSA formula change through everyone's posts! My older brother is currently a sophomore in college and I'm starting this fall. We haven't gotten our SAI results back yet, but based on all the experiences shared here, I'm expecting a massive shock. His EFC last year was around 11,500, so if the pattern holds, we're probably looking at SAIs of 23,000+ each. That's nearly double what our family budgeted for! Our parents specifically structured their college savings plan around the old EFC system with the sibling adjustment, and this change could completely upend our ability to afford college. I'm incredibly grateful for all the detailed advice shared in this thread - the tips about calling financial aid offices proactively, preparing spreadsheet comparisons, and getting counselor letters are invaluable. I'm definitely starting my outreach to schools THIS WEEK rather than waiting for our results. It's absolutely unacceptable that such a massive policy change wasn't clearly communicated to families during the planning and application process. How are we supposed to make informed decisions when the Department of Education doesn't properly explain how dramatically the formula has changed? Thank you to everyone who's shared their strategies and experiences - this community has been more helpful than our entire school counseling office in preparing us for what we're facing!