Updated SAI shows Pell Grant eligibility but award letter doesn't - how long for FAFSA changes to reach colleges?

Same happened with my daughters SAI! Went down by like $800 but her school hasnt updated anything yet. Im so frustrated with this new FAFSA!!

The updated SAI calculations are taking anywhere from 2-6 weeks to reach colleges' financial aid systems this year. This is because FSA has to transmit the updated ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record) to each school, and then schools need to reprocess aid packages based on the new information. The best approach is to email your financial aid office with screenshots of the updated SAI from studentaid.gov and specifically request a reevaluation based on the new Pell Grant eligibility. Make sure to include your student's ID number and full name in the email. Since we're in the peak of award season, don't be surprised if this takes them a couple weeks to address.

our sai went down to! but only by like $250 so im not even sure if that helps us at all lol

Hey there! I work at a university financial aid office (not officially representing them here though). The updated SAI data is slowly making its way to schools, but there's a major backlog in FAFSA processing this year. Here's what's happening: 1. When your SAI changes, the Federal Student Aid system generates a new ISIR to schools 2. Schools have to download these updates through their electronic system 3. Many schools only download new ISIRs once a week or even less frequently during busy periods 4. Once downloaded, packages need to be manually or batch recalculated I STRONGLY recommend calling your financial aid office directly. Reference your studentaid.gov SAI specifically and ask them to check if they've received the updated ISIR. If not, they can manually check your current SAI through their federal access and potentially update your package before the automatic systems catch up.

THIS WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIDICULOUS!!!!! My daughter's SAI changed THREE TIMES since January, and each time I have to practically BEG the school to acknowledge it. The financial aid office acts like I'm trying to scam them or something when I'm just showing them the LITERAL NUMBERS on the government website. I had to escalate to the director of financial aid to get them to actually update her package. The whole system is broken and nobody knows what they're doing. FAFSA was supposed to be EASIER this year???? What a JOKE.

One thing that might be happening is that your school is looking at the original FAFSA data rather than the reprocessed data. When FAFSA adjusted for inflation, they didn't necessarily notify all schools automatically. In my experience as a college consultant, some schools are being proactive about checking for updated SAIs while others are waiting for students to bring it to their attention. My advice: 1. Email AND call the financial aid office 2. Use very specific language: "My student's SAI was reprocessed by Federal Student Aid and now shows Pell Grant eligibility" 3. Provide the exact before and after SAI numbers 4. Ask specifically for them to reprocess the award package based on the new SAI It's definitely not too late - Pell Grants can be awarded retroactively even after the school year starts if eligibility is confirmed!

does anyone know what SAI number qualifies for pell grants? im confused about the cutoffs

I wonder if there just changing numbers all over the place cause of how bad they messed up FAFSA this year! My SAI changed 3 times since I first got it in March!!! Maybe they don't even know what there doing anymore!!

Quick update for everyone following this thread: FSA announced yesterday that all updated SAIs from the inflation adjustment should be transmitted to schools by June 15. If your school hasn't received the update by that date, then you should definitely follow up with both your school AND the Federal Student Aid Information Center. The inflation adjustment was approximately 6-7% for most families, which is why many people are seeing their SAI drop by several hundred dollars.

I'm dealing with a similar situation! My SAI dropped from $7,200 to $6,100 after the inflation adjustment, which should qualify my daughter for a partial Pell Grant. I called our school's financial aid office this morning and they told me they haven't received the updated ISIR yet, but they took down my information and said they'd prioritize reviewing it once it comes through. The financial aid counselor I spoke with was actually really helpful - she explained that they're seeing this issue with a lot of families and that they're prepared to quickly reprocess packages once they get the updated data. She also mentioned that if the Pell Grant gets added later, it would reduce our loan amounts which is exactly what we're hoping for. Definitely recommend calling rather than just waiting!

As someone new to navigating FAFSA, this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I had no idea that SAI numbers could change after the initial calculation, or that there were inflation adjustments happening in the background. My family is still waiting on our initial FAFSA processing (submitted in late February but got caught up in verification), so I'm wondering - should I be proactively checking studentaid.gov regularly to watch for any changes to our SAI once it's finally calculated? It sounds like these updates can happen without much notice, and I definitely don't want to miss out on potential Pell Grant eligibility like what happened with Emma's situation. Are there any other "gotchas" or things to watch out for that newcomers to this process should know about?