FAFSA for first-time parent - overwhelmed by SAI and college cost expectations!

Deep breaths! I just went through this with my daughter last year. For Fall 2025 entry, the FAFSA opens October 1, 2024, and I recommend submitting it within the first two weeks if possible. Schools have different priority deadlines, but earlier is always better for maximum aid consideration. Regarding SAI (Student Aid Index), you can get a rough estimate using the Federal Student Aid Estimator tool on studentaid.gov. With your income around $94k and multiple children in college, you might qualify for more aid than you think. The new FAFSA formula gives better consideration when multiple children are in college simultaneously. As for affording college - most families don't pay the sticker price. Between federal aid, institutional scholarships, grants, and work-study, the actual cost can be much lower. Make sure your son applies to schools with different price points and good financial aid reputations.

my daughter graduated last year and we went thru all this. dont trust the estimator it was WAY off for us, said wed get like 20k in aid but we only got 12k. css profile is WORSE than fafsa, asks for everything including home equity which fafsa doesn't. private schools use it to give u less money lol

As someone who works with financial aid, I'll add some important points: 1) The 2025-2026 FAFSA should be more streamlined than the problematic 2024-2025 version. They've had time to fix many issues. 2) With your income and multiple children heading to college, focus on the schools' Net Price Calculators rather than sticker prices. Every college website has one - they're more accurate than the federal estimator. 3) For a $94k household income, expect your SAI to be roughly $15k-25k depending on assets and specific situations. This doesn't mean you'll pay that amount - it's just what the formula calculates as your capacity. 4) Many private colleges with high sticker prices offer significant institutional aid that public universities can't match. Don't rule out expensive schools automatically. 5) Start researching outside scholarships now. Even smaller $1-2k scholarships add up. Most importantly, involve your son in understanding costs. The financial reality check needs to happen before decisions are made, not after acceptance letters arrive.

UGH the whole system is RIGGED!! We make just over 100k and got ZERO federal grants for my daughter. Just loans loans loans. CSS Profile asked about our house which we've been in for 20 years so it showed equity even though we can't actually access that money!!! They expected us to pay $32k a year somehow. Total scam.

If you're really struggling to navigate the FAFSA and concerned about maximizing aid, I'd recommend checking out a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com). I used it last month when I couldn't get through to the Federal Student Aid helpline after trying for DAYS. Their service got me connected to an actual FSA agent in under 20 minutes who walked me through some complicated questions about my divorce situation and how it affected our FAFSA. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Seriously saved me so much stress and probably helped us qualify for more aid by reporting things correctly.

Regarding financial aid consultants - they're rarely worth the cost for most families. The exceptions are if you have very complicated financial situations (business owners, multiple properties, divorce settlements affecting financial responsibility, etc.) or if you're right on the edge of qualifying for significant aid and need optimization strategies. For most families, you can get good results by: 1) Meeting with your high school's college counselor (free) 2) Attending financial aid workshops offered by local colleges (free) 3) Carefully reading the guidance on studentaid.gov (free) 4) Using each college's financial aid office for specific questions (free) The $3,000+ you'd spend on a consultant could go directly toward college costs instead.

D3 coach here. That's a legitimate comment, though perhaps phrased in a way that sounds shadier than it is. While D3 schools can't offer athletic scholarships, coaches often have influence with admissions and can advocate for merit scholarships for desirable recruits. Some schools also have "leadership" scholarships or other merit-based awards that aren't technically athletic but may favor students with demonstrated excellence in various areas including athletics. This isn't guarantee of specific amounts though - more of an indication that the coach will advocate for your son in the financial aid process. Ask for clarity about what specific scholarship opportunities their recruited athletes typically receive.

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I think our plan now is to: 1) Submit FAFSA as early as possible after Oct 1 2) Use the Net Price Calculators for each school on his list 3) Prepare for CSS Profile for the private schools 4) Talk to his coach about potential merit aid opportunities 5) Have honest conversations about what we can realistically afford I feel much less overwhelmed now! One last question - for his dream school that might be a financial stretch, should we apply Early Decision or would that put us at a disadvantage for negotiating financial aid later?