FAFSA SAI tripled when second kid started college - why did multiple students increase our contribution?

the new FAFSA doesn't divide the contribution by number of students in college anymore...that changed with the FAFSA simplification. its actually a huge problem for families with multiple kids

Mine did the exact same thing! First kid SAI was 2100, second kid started and jumped to 6800. Called financial aid office and they just said "new FAFSA formula, nothing we can do" 🤬

This is actually one of the biggest changes in the new FAFSA. Under the previous system, your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) was divided by the number of college students in your household. So if your EFC was $10,000 with one student, it would become $5,000 per student with two students. With the 2024-2025 FAFSA and beyond, the Student Aid Index (SAI) is NOT divided by the number of students. Each student receives the same SAI regardless of siblings in college. Congress removed this adjustment when they passed the FAFSA Simplification Act. For families with multiple students, this is often resulting in significantly less aid than before. Your numbers (1842 to 7345) suggest other factors might also be at play though, as that's more than just losing the sibling discount.

The massive jump in your SAI isn't just from losing the sibling discount - it's also affected by: 1. Different tax years being used (2022 taxes for 2024-2025 FAFSA vs 2023 taxes for 2025-2026) 2. Updates to the SAI formula tables and allowances for the new year 3. Potential changes in your assets between applications 4. The treatment of small business and farm assets changed in the new formula 5. Different income protection allowances You should check if your income increased between 2022 and 2023 tax years. Even a moderate increase could significantly impact your SAI under the new formula. Also verify that all questions about assets were answered the same way on both applications.

Im in the same boat!!! Our SAI went from 2240 to 9150 with my second kid starting college!!!!! I sent appeals to both schools already. Called FAFSA office for 3 days straight but couldn't get through to anyone. Just constant busy signals and disconnects. This is absolute BS and I'm FURIOUS about it.

I work in a financial aid office, and this is something we're seeing with many families this year. The removal of the multiple-student discount was a significant change that's causing substantial confusion. What's crucial to understand is that while the FAFSA no longer adjusts for multiple students, many colleges and universities DO still consider this in their institutional aid calculations. When you get your financial aid packages, you might find the schools have added additional institutional grants to help offset this issue. I strongly recommend: 1. File a special circumstances appeal with BOTH schools' financial aid offices 2. Be specific about having multiple students and the dramatic increase in your SAI 3. Provide documentation showing both students' enrollment 4. Calculate what your contribution would have been under the old formula as a reference point Many schools have created special funds specifically to address this issue for the 2025-2026 year since they recognize the hardship it's creating.

the whole fafsa system is RIGGED against middle class families!!! first they take away the sibling discount then they lower the income protection allowance and now we're supposed to go into massive debt just to give our kids an education??? this country is broken

did u try the college financial aid calculator things? some skools have them on there websites to estimate wut aid u'll get

One more important point - while your official SAI is higher, colleges with institutional aid often have their own formula that still considers multiple students. For example, many private colleges use the CSS Profile, which still includes a multiple student discount in their institutional methodology. If your children are applying to schools that use the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA, make sure to complete that as well. It might result in better institutional aid packages even if federal aid is reduced. Also, some public universities have created special scholarship funds specifically to address this issue for the 2025-2026 academic year. Ask specifically about "multiple student household grants" or "sibling enrollment scholarships" when talking to financial aid offices.

my cousins friend said they just put down they had less money and got more aid lol

I'm dealing with this exact same situation and it's absolutely devastating for our family budget. We went from an EFC of around $3,200 with our first child to an SAI of $8,900 when our second started college this year. What's particularly frustrating is that nobody warned us about this change when we were doing college planning. We budgeted based on the assumption that having two kids in college would split our contribution, not nearly triple it per student. I've started reaching out to both schools' financial aid offices, and one admissions counselor mentioned they're seeing this issue with almost every multiple-student family this year. She said to specifically mention "FAFSA Simplification Act impact" in any appeals because they've been instructed to flag these cases. Has anyone had success with the appeals process yet? I'm wondering if it's worth hiring a financial aid consultant at this point because we're looking at potentially $40K+ more in costs than we planned for.