FAFSA SAI score seems completely wrong - how to appeal miscalculated amount?

First, take a deep breath. This happens more than you'd think with the new FAFSA system. SAI miscalculations are fairly common, especially with the recent formula changes. You'll need to do two things: 1. File a correction to your FAFSA if you can identify any input errors 2. Contact each school's financial aid office directly to request a professional judgment review For the professional judgment, you'll need: - Tax returns from 2023 - W-2 forms - Documentation of any special circumstances - A clear, detailed letter explaining why you believe the SAI is incorrect Schools have the authority to adjust your SAI based on their professional judgment if they agree the calculation doesn't reflect your true financial situation. The FAFSA processor can't really help with this - it's the schools that have the power to adjust the aid package.

the same thing happened to me!!! my son's SAI was like $18k higher than what we expected. turned out i entered my home value wrong (put 260000 instead of 26000 lol). check all ur numbers again especially any asset stuff, thats where most mistakes happen

They're ALL miscalculated! The whole new FAFSA system is designed to GIVE LESS AID to middle class families. My daughter got ZERO aid with the new system when she would have qualified for grants under the old formula. It's not a mistake - it's working exactly as the government intended. Don't waste your time.

When did you submit your FAFSA? There was a glitch in January that was causing multiple homes to be counted if you own property. They fixed it in February but anyone who submitted during that window might have incorrect calculations. You can check your Confirmation Page to see if it shows property values that don't make sense.

Try calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. I spent 3 DAYS trying to get through to them about our SAI calculation problem. So frustrating!!!! Eventually I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual agent in about 8 minutes. They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FAFSA agent actually found the error on our application - turned out the system had somehow duplicated our retirement accounts in the calculation. They fixed it and our SAI dropped by like $15k! Totally worth it after spending days trying to get through on my own.

I just went through this exact nightmare with my son. Turns out the issue was that I had included the value of our primary residence in the asset section (which you're NOT supposed to do on FAFSA). This added about $230k to our assets and completely threw off the SAI calculation. Double-check if you accidentally included your home value in the asset section. If so, submit a correction immediately. Also reach out to the financial aid offices at each school and explain the situation - many will put a hold on your aid package until the corrected SAI comes through.

Financial aid professional here. Based on the information you've shared, your SAI should indeed be much lower. Here are the most common issues I see that might explain this: 1. Home equity in primary residence should NOT be reported on FAFSA (this is the most likely culprit) 2. Retirement accounts are protected assets with limited impact 3. The system may have incorrectly duplicated assets (a known glitch) 4. You may have accidentally reported the same income in multiple sections I would recommend: 1. Submit a correction on studentaid.gov immediately 2. Email each college's financial aid office with a brief explanation 3. Prepare for professional judgment reviews with each school 4. Request your FAFSA data from studentaid.gov to see exactly what was reported With your income level as a single parent, your daughter should absolutely qualify for significant need-based aid once this is corrected.

lol everyone talking about "miscalculations" when really its just the government trying to squeeze more money out of us!! the whole system is rigged anyway...even if u get the number fixed they'll find some other way to deny aid

UPDATE: You all were RIGHT! I just did a correction and removed my home value from the assets section. I also double-checked that my retirement accounts were properly categorized. When I called the financial aid office at my daughter's top choice school, they were super helpful and said this is happening to lots of people this year with the new FAFSA system. They're going to review our corrected SAI as soon as it comes through! Thank you ALL for your help - I was seriously panicking thinking we'd have to take out massive loans. I'll update again once we get the new calculation.

This is such a relief to read! I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - my SAI came back way higher than expected and I was starting to think college just wasn't going to be affordable for my family. Reading through all these responses has given me hope that it might just be a calculation error rather than us not qualifying for aid at all. I'm definitely going to check if I accidentally included our home value in the assets section too. The FAFSA questions were honestly pretty confusing and I may have over-reported our assets thinking it was better to include everything. For anyone else reading this thread - it's so encouraging to see that the schools' financial aid offices are understanding about these issues and willing to work with families. I was worried they'd just tell us "too bad, this is your number" but it sounds like they're used to helping people navigate corrections. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and advice here. This community is a lifesaver!

As someone who just went through this exact situation with my own kid's FAFSA, I can't stress enough how important it is to double-check the asset reporting section. The way the questions are worded makes it really easy to accidentally include things you shouldn't. Beyond the home value issue (which sounds like your main problem), also make sure you didn't report your retirement accounts incorrectly. Only certain types of retirement funds are supposed to be included, and even then there are specific calculation rules. One thing that helped me was printing out the FAFSA completion guide from studentaid.gov and going through it line by line with my original application. It's tedious but I found two mistakes I had made that were inflating our SAI. Also, don't wait to contact the schools even while you're working on the correction. Most financial aid offices are swamped right now but they'd rather know about potential issues early than have to rush to recalculate aid packages at the last minute. A quick email explaining the situation and that you're submitting a correction can go a long way. Hang in there - this is totally fixable!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar boat with my son's SAI coming back way higher than expected. Reading through everyone's experiences, I'm pretty sure I made the home value mistake too. Quick question for those who have already submitted corrections - about how long did it take for the updated SAI to show up in your account after you submitted the correction? And did the schools receive the updated information automatically or did you have to do anything else to make sure they got it? I'm submitting my correction tonight but trying to figure out the timeline since some of his school deadlines are coming up soon. Don't want to miss anything while waiting for the corrected numbers to come through! Thanks again to everyone sharing their experiences - it's such a relief to know this is fixable and we're not alone in dealing with these calculation issues.