FAFSA shows SAI of 33814 'under review' - still eligible for Pell Grant?

The 'under review' status usually indicates the Department of Education is conducting a verification of some information on your FAFSA. About 30% of all FAFSA applications get selected for this process - it doesn't mean you did anything wrong! They might be verifying tax information, household size, or other details. Your daughter's school financial aid office will likely send a request for additional documentation if anything is needed from you. The SAI could potentially change after review, though with an SAI of 33814, you're right that Pell Grant eligibility is unlikely regardless of minor adjustments.

had the same thing happen last year lol. turns out they were checking my parents income info. took like 3 weeks then nothing changed with my sai number anyway

The FAFSA system is RIDICULOUS!!!! They put people under review for NO REASON and then take MONTHS to resolve it. My son had the same issue and we had to call them SIX TIMES before they finally admitted it was just a random flag in their system. By then, we'd missed priority deadlines for two schools!!! And even after all that, they still gave us a crazy high SAI number that made no sense for our income level.

While your daughter likely won't qualify for a Pell Grant with that SAI, don't lose hope about financial aid entirely. Many schools offer institutional aid that isn't tied directly to the federal SAI calculation. The "under review" status typically means one of three things: 1. Random verification (most common) 2. Data mismatch between your tax return and what was entered 3. Unusual patterns that triggered a closer look In my experience counseling students, these reviews typically conclude within 2-4 weeks. I'd suggest reaching out to your daughter's prospective schools' financial aid offices - let them know her FAFSA is under review and ask if this will delay their aid packaging process. Many schools can still create a preliminary aid package while waiting for the final review to conclude.

If your trying to reach FSA about this you should try Claimyr. I was in a similar situation last month where my son's SAI was under review and I couldn't get through to anyone at Federal Student Aid. I found this service at claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual FSA agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent told me the review was happening because there was a small discrepancy between what we reported as income and what the IRS had. Once they explained what it was, it was a quick fix and the review was completed in a few days after that.

My daughter just went through this last month. In our case, the "under review" status came because we have a small business and file Schedule C. They requested additional documentation about our business income, which wasn't captured correctly through the IRS data retrieval tool. After we submitted everything, her SAI actually decreased by about $4,000, which made a difference for some state grant programs (though still not enough for Pell). If they need additional information, you'll receive an email notification from studentaid.gov prompting you to log in to your account. I'd recommend checking your spam folder too, as these emails sometimes end up there.

dont worry about it so much!!! my twin brothers both got selected for verification last year and ONE got pell and ONE didn't even tho there literally the same household lmao. the whole system is just random sometimes.

One important clarification based on the conversation so far - the "under review" status doesn't always mean you've been selected for verification. Verification is a specific process where your school's financial aid office requests additional documentation. The "under review" status on studentaid.gov often indicates an internal processing step by FSA that may resolve without any action from you. With an SAI of 33814, you're above the Pell Grant eligibility threshold (which is around 7500 for full Pell and gradually reduces until about 9700 for the 2025-2026 aid year), but your daughter may still qualify for subsidized loans and other forms of aid. Even if no federal grants are available, many state grant programs have higher thresholds, and institutional aid may still be substantial. I recommend proceeding with financial planning as if the SAI will remain unchanged, while remaining aware that minor adjustments could occur after review.

Y'all are being way too calm about this! They put THOUSANDS of students "under review" every year and some NEVER get resolved! My daughter's friend was "under review" for SIX MONTHS and missed out on specific scholarships because of it. The whole system is broken and needs a complete overhaul!!

Something not mentioned yet - check if your state has grant programs with higher SAI thresholds than the federal Pell Grant. For example, in my state, students can qualify for state grants with an SAI up to 15500 for some programs and up to 42000 for others, which is much higher than the Pell cutoff. Your SAI of 33814 might still qualify for state-specific aid programs even if federal Pell is off the table. The review status shouldn't affect your ability to apply for these state programs in most cases.

I went through something similar with my son two years ago! The "under review" status appeared right after we submitted his FAFSA, and I was panicking thinking we'd made some error. Turns out it was completely routine - they were just cross-checking our tax information with IRS records since we had some retirement account distributions that year. The whole thing resolved in about 2.5 weeks without us having to do anything. One tip that really helped us during the waiting period: I created a spreadsheet tracking all the different aid deadlines for his schools, including their priority deadlines for institutional aid. Most schools were understanding when I explained the FAFSA was under review and didn't penalize us for the delay. Some even gave us preliminary aid estimates based on the SAI we had, with the understanding it might change slightly after review (though in our case, it stayed exactly the same). Don't let the stress get to you too much - at an SAI of 33814, you're in a pretty predictable range where the review is unlikely to change things dramatically either way. Focus your energy on researching those institutional aid opportunities!