FAFSA SAI score of 23811 - will I still qualify for financial aid?

Your SAI of 23811 isn't necessarily bad! The Student Aid Index is just one factor schools use to determine your financial aid package. With in-state tuition at $25k and your SAI at around $23.8k, you still have demonstrated need of about $1.2k even before considering your sibling also attending college. Most importantly, your SAI is well below the Pell Grant cutoff (which is around 7000), so you should qualify for at least some federal grants. Each school has different institutional aid policies too, so make sure you check with their financial aid offices directly.

an sai of 23811 is definitely not great but not terrible either. my sai was 18400 last year and i still got some aid but mostly loans. did you already submit both your and your parents tax info? sometimes if something is missing they calculate it differently

Wait I'm confused, I thought they weren't using SAI until next year? I'm filling out my forms now and I'm still seeing EFC calculations. Are you using the Beta version or something?

Your SAI isn't bad at all given your family situation. The critical thing to understand is that with two family members in college simultaneously, many schools will factor that in separately from your FAFSA SAI calculation. Be sure to contact each financial aid office and specifically mention your sibling's enrollment - this often triggers additional institutional aid. Also, your SAI of 23811 definitely qualifies you for subsidized federal loans and likely work-study options. The Parent Plus loan is also available regardless of your SAI if your parents are willing to take on that responsibility. Make sure to check if your state has grant programs too - many have separate applications from FAFSA with different eligibility requirements.

my SAI was 26000 and i still got a pell grant!!!!! dont worry too much about the number cause each school uses it differently anyway. just make sure ur actually checking ur financial aid offers when they come in cuz they might give u way more than u expect.

The whole FAFSA system is RIGGED against middle-class families!!! An SAI of 23811 means they expect your family to pay nearly $24K a year?? That's RIDICULOUS when your parents make $85K with multiple kids in college! The formula is completely broken and doesn't account for actual living expenses, debt payments, or regional cost differences. My daughter had a similar SAI and basically got offered nothing but loans. They expect families to go into massive debt just to pay for basics. It's criminal how they calculate these numbers!!!

also just fyi you should call your schools financial aid office directly and explain your situation. sometimes they can adjust your aid package if you have special circumstances they should know about.

Hey, I had the same issue with trying to reach financial aid offices! Someone in another thread recommended using Claimyr.com to get through to FAFSA directly - I tried it yesterday and got connected to an actual human at FSA in under 5 minutes who helped explain my SAI calculation. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent I spoke with explained exactly how my SAI was calculated and gave me documentation I could use when talking to my school's aid office about my special circumstances. Way better than waiting on hold for hours!

Just wanted to share our experience - my son had an SAI of 24620 for his freshman year (2024-2025), and he still qualified for a partial Pell Grant, subsidized loans, and received institutional grants from 3 of the 5 schools where he was accepted. Each school handles the SAI differently, so don't lose hope until you see the actual aid packages! Also important - with two kids in college, your family's contribution is essentially split between you both, which most schools factor in automatically. This could significantly improve your aid eligibility.

In our case, surprisingly, one of the private schools offered the best package despite having higher sticker price - they had more institutional aid available. That said, one of the state schools was a close second. It really varies by school and their funding priorities. My advice is to apply widely and consider schools that are known for meeting high percentages of demonstrated need.

@profile 4 lol no i was exaggerating about the pell grant with 26000 SAI, my bad!!! i think the max for pell is way lower like someone else said. but i DID get good institutional aid so the point still stands, apply everywhere and see what offers come in!!!

Quick correction to my earlier comment - I meant to say your SAI is above the Pell Grant cutoff (not below). For 2025-2026, the maximum SAI to qualify for Pell Grants is expected to be around 6656. However, you're still likely to qualify for subsidized loans, work-study, and institutional aid, especially with a sibling also in college. Sorry for any confusion!

I'm in a similar situation - SAI of 21,450 with parents making about $80k. What really helped me was creating a spreadsheet to track all my aid offers as they came in. Don't just look at the total aid amount, but break down grants vs loans vs work-study. Some schools that seemed expensive initially ended up being more affordable after aid. Also, if you haven't already, make sure you've applied to your state's grant programs - many have deadlines separate from FAFSA and can provide additional funding even with higher SAI scores. The CSS Profile schools might also offer more institutional aid if you're applying to any of those.