Is a FAFSA SAI score of 598 good for my daughter's financial aid chances?

That's actually a really good SAI score! My son had an SAI of 1200 last year and still qualified for some decent aid. With 598, your daughter will likely qualify for a partial or maybe even full Pell Grant depending on the school's cost of attendance. Each school will create their own financial aid package based on this number, but it's definitely on the lower end which is good for aid purposes.

congrats!! we got an 1800 sai and got basically nothing lol. ur gonna get way better packages than us for sure. my sister had something like 650 and got almost full rides at 2 state schools.

As a financial aid counselor, I can give you some context: an SAI of 598 is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum, which is good news for financial aid eligibility. With this score: 1. Your daughter will likely qualify for a Pell Grant (max is $7,395 for 2025-26) 2. She'll be eligible for strong need-based aid at most institutions 3. State schools may end up being very affordable 4. Private colleges might offer substantial institutional aid to supplement federal options However, each school calculates their own cost of attendance and has different resources for aid. $72K for a family of four puts you in a range where some schools might expect more family contribution than others. I suggest running the Net Price Calculator on each school's website for a more precise estimate.

I HATE how they make this process so confusing! My daughter had an SAI of 540 last year and some schools gave her amazing packages while others were still asking for $25K+ per year!!! The whole system is designed to be impossible to understand. I spent HOURS on the phone with different financial aid offices trying to get straight answers. Most of the time I couldn't even get through to a real person.

An SAI of 598 is good, but don't make the mistake I did thinking it guarantees anything. My son had a similar score (612) and we assumed he'd get great aid everywhere. Some schools met nearly full need, others offered barely anything. The private liberal arts college actually gave the best package despite being the most expensive on paper. It's weird how it works sometimes!

Financial aid counselor here - just to add some technical details about what that 598 SAI means: For 2025-2026, an SAI of 598 puts you well within Pell Grant eligibility (current cutoff is around 6000). Based on your household income of $72K with 2 children, that SAI aligns with expectations. What many families don't realize is that the SAI is just the federal formula. Each school may: 1. Use the Federal Methodology (FM) based directly on FAFSA 2. Use Institutional Methodology (IM) via CSS Profile (common at private colleges) 3. Apply their own additional formulas This is why running each school's Net Price Calculator is crucial. Some will ask for assets/home equity the FAFSA doesn't, which can change your expected contribution. With your SAI, I'd expect strong need-based aid at public universities and potentially competitive packages at private institutions eager to enroll your daughter.

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! This has given us a much better understanding of what to expect. I'm going to look into running the Net Price Calculator for each school on her list and will also make sure we check if any require the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA. One more quick question - is there anything we should be doing now to maximize her aid opportunities? She's applied to 7 schools total (3 state, 4 private) and we're waiting on decisions. Should we be preparing to appeal any aid offers that seem insufficient?

One thing I learned the hard way: don't just look at the bottom line number on financial aid offers. Some schools front-load grants in the first year then switch to more loans in later years. Others include work-study in the package which isn't guaranteed money. And watch out for Parent PLUS loans being included as if they're aid - they're just loans with higher interest rates that YOU have to pay back, not reduced costs.

Your SAI of 598 is excellent news! As someone who just went through this process with my own kid, I can tell you that score puts your daughter in a really good position. We had a similar family income and our SAI was around 750, and my son still received substantial aid at most schools he applied to. A few practical tips from our experience: - Don't be surprised if private schools sometimes offer better net prices than state schools due to their larger endowments - Keep all your financial documents organized - schools often request verification - Consider having your daughter apply to a financial safety school where her stats are well above average (they might offer merit aid on top of need-based aid) - Start looking at outside scholarship opportunities now while you're waiting for school decisions The waiting is the hardest part, but with that SAI, you should have some good options come spring!