FAFSA showing $0 SAI despite decent income - is this another FAFSA calculation error?

OMG SAME THING HAPPENING HERE!! My daughter's SAI came back at $0 too and we make almost $95k combined. I called the FAFSA hotline FOUR TIMES and kept getting disconnected. When I finally got through yesterday, the rep seemed super confused and just told me to "wait for corrections to be processed" but couldn't tell me when that would happen or if I needed to do anything. This whole FAFSA simplification has been a DISASTER!

My nephew is having the exact opposite problem. Their family makes about $42k total with 3 kids, and somehow their SAI came back at $22,000! Makes absolutely no sense. His college financial aid office told them to file an appeal, but the whole system is so backed up that they don't know if it'll be resolved before he needs to make enrollment decisions.

This is actually a known issue with the 2025-2026 FAFSA. The Department of Education acknowledged there are significant calculation errors affecting many applicants. Some families are seeing artificially low SAIs while others are seeing impossibly high ones. What's happening is related to how the new system calculates the Student Aid Index. There were major changes in the formula this year, particularly in how they handle income protection allowances and multiple students in college. The DoE is working on a mass correction, but they haven't announced a timeline. Your school is making the right call by delaying financial aid packages. Most institutions are waiting for corrected data before making awards. In the meantime, document everything! Save screenshots of your FAFSA submission and the SAI result. You'll want this documentation if you need to appeal later.

I'm a financial aid counselor (not official advice). The $0 SAI issue is affecting thousands of families. Internal guidance suggests it's related to a calculation error in how retirement accounts and college savings plans are being factored. The system is either ignoring certain assets entirely or applying the wrong multipliers to them. The corrected calculations should automatically update in both your FAFSA account AND be sent to schools, but in this chaos, I'd recommend contacting each school's financial aid office directly in late May to confirm they received updated information.

After trying for TWO WEEKS to reach someone at Federal Student Aid about my daughter's obviously wrong SAI calculation, I finally discovered Claimyr.com. It's a service that holds your place in the FSA phone queue and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration! There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. When I finally spoke with an agent, they confirmed there's a widespread issue with SAI calculations that they're working to fix. The agent documented my case specifically and said corrections should be processed within 3-4 weeks.

As a former financial aid administrator, I can provide some context here. The new FAFSA formula has significant changes from previous years: 1. The formula now uses different income protection allowances 2. The way multiple students in college affects calculations has changed 3. Small business and family farm assets are treated differently 4. The calculation for retirement accounts has been modified Based on what you described, it sounds like either your retirement assets weren't properly counted, or there's an error in how they're calculating your income protection allowance based on your family size. You should definitely: - Document everything with screenshots - Contact your son's financial aid office directly - File a formal correction request through studentaid.gov - Be prepared to submit an appeal with documentation of your actual financial situation The good news is that schools are aware of these issues and many are building extra time into their awarding cycles to accommodate corrections.

Same thing happened to my cousins kid! Their SAI came back as $0 even though they make decent money. The financial aid office told them its happening to like half the applications this year lol. what a mess

Just to add a data point - I have twins both applying to college this year. One got a $0 SAI and the other got a $12,500 SAI. Same household, same information. Makes absolutely no sense! Their financial aid packages are completely different too, which feels incredibly unfair.

UPDATE: The Department of Education just released a statement yesterday saying they've identified the calculation errors and will be implementing a mass correction to all affected SAI calculations within the next 4 weeks. Schools have been notified to expect updated ISIRs (Institutional Student Information Records) by mid-May. They're prioritizing corrections for current high school seniors who need to make enrollment decisions soon. The main issues they identified were: 1. Incorrect handling of retirement assets 2. Errors in the income protection allowance calculations 3. Problems with how dependent vs. independent student calculations were processed If you're seeing a $0 SAI that seems incorrect, you're almost certainly affected by this error and should expect an updated calculation soon.

This is exactly what I needed to hear! My family is in a similar situation - we make around $75k and got a $0 SAI which seemed impossible. I was starting to panic about whether we'd be able to afford college at all if the "real" calculation came back much higher. It's frustrating that this rollout has been so buggy, but I'm relieved to know it's a known issue being actively fixed rather than us having to fight the system individually. The timing is really stressful though - my son has to commit to a school by May 1st and we have no idea what our actual financial aid will look like. Has anyone heard if schools are extending their deposit deadlines because of these FAFSA issues? I'm worried about putting down a deposit based on incorrect financial aid information.