FAFSA SAI score of 17500 received - what does this number actually mean for aid?

The SAI (Student Aid Index) is basically what the government thinks your family can afford to pay per year for college. So with an SAI of 17500, colleges will expect your family to contribute about that much annually. Whether that's "good" depends on the cost of the schools your son is applying to. For a $25k school, you'd potentially get about $7.5k in need-based aid (though this varies by school). For a $45k school, you might qualify for around $27.5k in need-based aid. Remember that this is just a starting point - each college uses the SAI differently when creating their financial aid packages. Some meet 100% of demonstrated need, others meet only a portion.

that sai means u probly wont get pell grants. pell is usually for sai under 6000. my kid got 3200 sai and got max pell. yours is way higher. good luck

With an SAI of 17500, you're right at the edge for some institutional aid at many schools, but likely won't qualify for federal Pell Grants (which typically go to SAIs under ~6000). Here's what you need to do now: 1) Look at each college's financial aid calculator on their website - they'll often show what aid package you might receive with your specific SAI 2) Apply for outside scholarships - many local organizations offer scholarships that aren't based on financial need 3) Consider filing appeals with colleges if you have special circumstances not reflected in your FAFSA (medical expenses, job loss, etc) Each school has different formulas for how they use the SAI to determine aid. More expensive private schools might offer more generous institutional grants to make up the difference.

The whole FAFSA system is RIGGED against middle class families!!! My daughter had a 19000 SAI and got NOTHING from her state school while her roommate whose parents make way more than us somehow got grants??? The calculations are completely broken and favor families who know how to work the system. Good luck getting real help from anyone at the financial aid office - they just send you to the website which is ALWAYS down or broken.

Hey just wanted to share what worked for us with getting through to someone at Federal Student Aid when we had SAI questions. We used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that basically holds your place in the phone queue and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved us from waiting on hold for hours. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. We had a complicated situation with our FAFSA (divorce + business income) and really needed to talk to an actual person to get it sorted. Just thought I'd mention it since the hold times right now are insane.

I work in a college financial aid office. An SAI of 17500 means different things depending on the school's cost of attendance and their financial aid policies. For a $25k/year school, you'd have an estimated need of $7,500 ($25k - $17,500). For a $45k/year school, you'd have an estimated need of $27,500 ($45k - $17,500). But here's the important part many families miss: not all schools meet 100% of demonstrated need. Some might only cover 70-80% of that gap with grants, scholarships and loans combined. Also, the federal loan eligibility for first-year dependent students is $5,500 maximum regardless of need. So that's typically built into packages even before grants. My suggestion: wait for the actual financial aid award letters before making assumptions about costs. Each school handles the SAI differently.

I remember when my son went through this! The SAI used to be called the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) before they changed it. Same concept though. Our number was around 16000 and he still got some decent aid packages from certain schools - especially the private ones with bigger endowments. The state schools gave less aid overall. Don't get discouraged yet!

One more thing about your SAI - it's worth checking if there are any errors in your FAFSA that might have inflated your SAI. Common mistakes include: 1. Reporting retirement assets (401k, IRA) which should be excluded 2. Reporting the home you live in as an asset (primary residence is excluded) 3. Not properly reporting divorced parent information 4. Incorrectly entering business value for small family businesses If you think there might be errors, you can submit corrections to your FAFSA. An SAI reduction of even a few thousand can make a big difference in aid eligibility at some schools.