FAFSA showing negative SAI (-1500) for 23-year-old without parent info - what does this mean?

A negative SAI is actually GOOD! It means she's likely eligible for more aid than a student with a positive number. The lower the SAI, the more aid eligibility. As for not needing parent info, at 23 going on 24, she's probably now considered an independent student for FAFSA purposes.

Your daughter automatically qualifies as an independent student now because of her age. The FAFSA considers students 24 and older (or who will be 24 anytime during the award year) as independent, which means parent information isn't required anymore. And yes, a negative SAI (Student Aid Index) is actually very good news! It indicates high financial need. The lower the SAI, the more aid she's likely to receive, especially for need-based grants like the Pell Grant. A -1500 SAI typically qualifies for maximum Pell Grant funding.

my son got a negative SAI too but his was like -2300 or something and he got the full pell grant amount!!! i think its good!!!

Actually I need to correct something here. Your daughter isn't automatically independent just for being 23. The rule is that students must be 24 BEFORE January 1 of the award year. Since she's turning 24 in August of the award year, something else must be qualifying her as independent. Has she checked the independent student questions? Maybe she selected she's a graduate student, veteran, has dependents, etc? Or maybe she accidentally indicated she's already 24?

Has anyone here tried using Claimyr to get through to FAFSA when you need to speak to someone? I had questions about my son's SAI calculation that I couldn't get answered, kept getting disconnected when calling FSA directly. I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) after seeing it mentioned here, and they got me through to an actual person in about 10 minutes. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Seriously saved me hours of frustration, especially with all the new FAFSA changes this year.

A NEGATIVE SAI IS GREAT NEWS!!!! My daughter got a -3200 and qualified for EVERYTHING. Max Pell, state grants, even extra institutional aid from her college. The fact that your daughter got a negative SAI without your income being counted is FANTASTIC. Definitely not a mistake, just enjoy the extra aid she'll get! 🎉🎉🎉

To clarify a few things: 1. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, students born before January 1, 2002 are considered independent due to age. If your daughter turns 24 in August 2025, she qualifies. 2. A negative SAI is beneficial. The SAI (Student Aid Index) replaced the old EFC and ranges from -1500 to 999999. A -1500 indicates maximum financial need. 3. With a -1500 SAI, she'll likely qualify for the maximum Pell Grant (approximately $7,395 based on current projections for 2025-2026). 4. The FAFSA automatically sends her information to the schools she listed on her application. She doesn't need to take additional steps for those schools to receive her SAI. 5. She should monitor her studentaid.gov account for any verification requests, as some students are randomly selected for verification of their information.

Just make sure she actually did fill everything out correctly tho. Not to be a downer but if there was a mistake and they catch it later, they could reduce her aid or even make her repay it. Double check all the indepedent student questions to be 100% sure.

One more thing - with a negative SAI, make sure your daughter still applies for scholarships!!! Some people think they don't need to with good FAFSA results, but every bit helps. And some scholarship money can be used for living expenses after tuition is covered!