FAFSA processed with negative SAI - no asset questions asked, is my application complete?

A negative SAI is definitely good! The lower your SAI (Student Aid Index), the more likely you are to qualify for significant financial aid, especially Pell Grants. \n\nAs for the asset questions - the FAFSA has changed significantly for the 2025-2026 cycle. If your income is below a certain threshold (around $60,000 for a family of 4), or if you receive certain federal benefits like Medicaid, the system now automatically skips asset questions. This is part of the FAFSA Simplification Act. So not seeing those questions is actually normal for your situation.\n\nIf it says \

Thank you so much for explaining this! I had no idea the FAFSA would skip asset questions based on income or benefits. That makes me feel much better about not seeing those sections. Do you know if there's any way to see if the Data Retrieval Tool actually worked? I never got any confirmation it pulled our tax info successfully.

congrats on the negative SAI!! we got a -1500 last yr and my kid got full pell grant plus extra aid from her school. if it says processed ur good to go 👍

That's amazing to hear! Do you mind me asking if you got any kind of notification when your colleges received the FAFSA info? I'm wondering how I'll know when it's been sent to schools.

DONT TRUST THE PROCESSED STATUS!!! My FAFSA said processed last year and then 3 weeks later they flagged us for verification and we had to submit a ton of extra documents. The whole system is designed to trip people up. Just because it says processed doesn't mean you're done. They'll probably come back asking for bank statements and house value info later. They always do this to families with adopted kids because they think we're hiding money or something. Prepare for a headache.

This is unnecessarily alarmist. Being selected for verification is random for most people and affects about 20% of FAFSA filers. It doesn't mean there was anything wrong with the original application. And the new simplified FAFSA genuinely does skip asset questions for many families now - that's an actual improvement to the system.

Maybe for some people, but my sister's family and my family BOTH got verification requests and we BOTH have adopted children. That's not random. The system targets certain family types.

Financial aid administrator here. I can confirm that what you're experiencing is completely normal for the new FAFSA. If your family has a Medicaid recipient (your adopted daughter), you qualify for what's called the

Thank you SO much for this detailed explanation! I had no idea the Medicaid connection qualified us for the simplified formula. That makes perfect sense now. And yes, I did add all four colleges we're considering - should I expect any kind of confirmation when they receive our information?

hey just wondering what did your negative SAI number end up being? my daughter got -2500 and we're trying to figure out if thats good enough for the schools she wants

We got -1650, but I honestly have no idea if that's good or bad compared to others! I'm still trying to understand how the whole system works.

I spent 3 days trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid about this exact question last month! Their phone system is ridiculous - kept disconnecting me after 45+ minutes on hold. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that held my place in line and had an agent call me back. Totally worth it! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nAnyway, the agent confirmed that with the new FAFSA, if you have a household member on Medicaid, they skip asset questions automatically. They also confirmed that \

this claimyr thing actually works?? i mite try it... been calling FSA for 2 weeks with no luck 😩

It worked great for me! I was skeptical too but after wasting hours on hold it was such a relief to just get a callback.

A negative SAI basically guarantees Pell Grant eligibility (up to $7,395 for 2025-2026). The FAFSA simplification is actually working as intended in your case - families with Medicaid recipients automatically qualify for the simplified needs formula which skips asset questions. \n\nOne thing to know - each college will use your FAFSA information slightly differently when creating their financial aid package. Some schools will offer additional institutional aid on top of federal aid, while others might only offer the minimum. Make sure to follow up with each college's financial aid office about a month after your FAFSA was processed.

Thanks for the advice! I'm definitely planning to follow up with the schools. Do you happen to know how long it typically takes for colleges to receive the FAFSA information after it's been processed?

To answer your follow-up questions about timing:\n\n1. Schools typically receive your FAFSA data 3-5 business days after it shows as \

This is incredibly helpful! I'll mark my calendar to follow up with the schools in about 2 weeks. Thank you for such detailed information - this whole process is so much clearer now!

Just wanted to add my experience as another first-time FAFSA filer - I was also confused about the asset questions being skipped! My family has a similar situation with Medicaid coverage, and we ended up with a -1800 SAI. Reading through all these responses has been so reassuring. One thing I discovered is that you can actually check the status of your FAFSA transmission to schools by logging back into your StudentAid.gov account and looking at the "My Activity" section. It shows when each school received your information, which helped ease my anxiety about whether everything went through properly. Good luck with your financial aid packages! Sounds like you're in great shape with that negative SAI.