Where is my Student Aid Report (SAR) - parent or student FAFSA account?

The Student Aid Report (SAR) appears in the STUDENT'S account, not the parent account. After logging into studentaid.gov with your daughter's FSA ID, go to 'My Documents' section on the dashboard. It should be listed there as 'Student Aid Report' or 'SAR.' If it's not there, make sure your FAFSA was fully processed and not just saved or submitted. You can also check the 'My FAFSA' section and look for the option to 'View or Print your Student Aid Report.

SARs are alwys in the student account. I submited FAFSAs for all 3 of my kids and could never c their SARs in my parent account even tho I was the 1 who did all the work lol

I remember being confused by this too! What's really weird is that sometimes the financial aid office asks for the SAR and other times they ask for the ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record). They're basically the same thing - the SAR is what YOU see, and the ISIR is what the SCHOOL sees. But both have your SAI calculation which is what matters for determining aid eligibility.

To clarify what everyone's saying - the Student Aid Report (SAR) is ONLY available in your daughter's student account. Here's the exact steps to find it: 1. Log in to studentaid.gov using your DAUGHTER'S FSA ID (not yours) 2. On her dashboard, click on "My Documents" 3. Look for "Student Aid Report (SAR)" - it's usually a PDF file 4. If you don't see it, go to "My FAFSA" and check that the application shows "Processed" status The SAR contains the Student Aid Index (SAI) - which replaced the old EFC number in the 2024-2025 cycle. This is the number schools use to calculate financial need. If you can't find it online, you can call Federal Student Aid to have them email a copy to your daughter's email address.

I spent TWO HOURS trying to find my son's SAR last month - called the financial aid office and they had no clue either! Finally figured out it's only on the student account. The whole system is ridiculous. Why make parents do all the work and then hide the results from us? 🙄

Have you tried calling FSA directly? I spent weeks trying to find my SAR online and kept getting stuck in an endless loop on their website. I finally used a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an actual person at FSA within 5 minutes (instead of the usual 2+ hour wait). The agent sent my SAR directly to my email. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - definitely worth it to solve these frustrating issues quickly.

One more thing to note - if your FAFSA was selected for verification (which happens randomly to about 30% of applications), the SAR might have a note indicating this. If that's the case, you'll need to submit additional documentation to the school before they can finalize the aid package. This could be why the financial aid office is specifically asking for the SAR - they want to see if you've been selected for verification.

To answer your follow-up question - after a FAFSA is processed, the SAR should be available within 3-5 business days. If it's been a week and you still don't see it in your daughter's account, there might be an issue. Sometimes there are technical glitches, especially with this year's new FAFSA system. You might want to contact FSA directly as someone suggested above to get it sent manually to your email.

Great to hear you found it! Just wanted to add for future reference - if anyone else runs into password issues with their student's FSA ID, you can reset it at fsaid.ed.gov using the "Forgot my Username or Password" link. Sometimes students forget their login info since they don't use it regularly, and that's often the real culprit when people think their SAR is "missing." Also, once you have the SAR, make sure to save a copy to your computer since the studentaid.gov site can be slow or down for maintenance at inconvenient times!

As a newcomer to this process, I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm dealing with the exact same issue right now with my son's FAFSA. The whole parent vs student account confusion is really frustrating - it seems like such a basic design flaw that parents complete everything but then can't access the results. Thanks to everyone who explained the step-by-step process. One question though - once we find the SAR in the student account, can we download it as a PDF to keep for our records? The financial aid office mentioned they might need it again later in the process.

As someone new to this whole FAFSA process, I'm finding this thread incredibly helpful! I'm currently dealing with the same confusion - completed my daughter's FAFSA using my parent account but couldn't figure out where to find the SAR. The fact that parents do all the work but then can't access the results directly is definitely counterintuitive. I'm curious - for those who have been through this before, is there any way to get notified when the SAR becomes available? Or do you just have to keep checking the student account periodically? Also, if we're helping multiple kids with FAFSAs, do we need to remember separate FSA IDs for each child to access their individual SARs?

As a newcomer to this process, I'm really grateful for all the detailed explanations here! I'm currently helping my daughter with her first FAFSA and was completely lost about where to find the SAR. The parent vs student account distinction makes so much more sense now - though I agree it's frustrating that we do all the legwork but can't see the final results in our own accounts. One additional question for those experienced with this: if there are any errors on the SAR that need to be corrected, do those corrections also have to be made through the student's account? Or can parents make FAFSA corrections using their contributor login and then the updated SAR will appear in the student's account? Just want to make sure I understand the workflow completely before we potentially run into issues later.

As someone completely new to the FAFSA process, this thread has been a lifesaver! I'm currently stuck in the same situation with my daughter's application. We submitted everything through my parent portal about 10 days ago and it shows as "processed," but I've been frantically searching MY account for the SAR that her college is requesting. Now I understand I need to check her student account instead - which honestly seems like a major design oversight. Quick question for the veterans here: when you say log in with the "student's FSA ID," is that the same FSA ID she created when we first started the FAFSA process, or is there a separate SAR-specific login? Also, if the FAFSA has been processed for over a week, should the SAR definitely be there by now, or could there still be processing delays with this year's system? Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this is way more complicated than it should be!

As a newcomer who just went through this exact same struggle last week, I can totally relate to the confusion! I spent hours looking in the wrong place (my parent account) before finding this thread. What really helped me was having my son log into his student account on studentaid.gov and then walking through it together on a video call. The SAR was right there under "My Documents" as everyone mentioned. One thing I'd add that saved us time - make sure to check that the email address on file in the student account is current and that they're checking their spam folder. Sometimes FSA sends notification emails about document availability that can get filtered out. Also, if you're like me and tend to save important documents immediately, you can actually email the SAR PDF directly from the student portal to your own email for safekeeping. This whole system definitely needs better parent access, but at least now I know the workaround for next year when my younger daughter applies!

As someone completely new to the FAFSA world, this entire thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm just starting the process with my oldest daughter and had no idea about the parent vs student account distinction. Reading through everyone's experiences, I'm realizing I need to make sure my daughter creates her FSA ID properly from the start and that we both understand she'll need to check her own account for the SAR. One question I haven't seen addressed - is there a way to give parents viewing access to the student account, or do we literally have to ask our kids to log in every time we need to check something? It seems like there should be some kind of family sharing option, especially since parents are typically the ones coordinating with financial aid offices. Also, for those who've been through this multiple times, do you have any tips for staying organized when managing the whole process? This seems like it's going to be a lot more complex than I initially thought!

As a complete newcomer to this whole process, I can't thank everyone enough for this thread! I'm currently dealing with the exact same frustration with my son's FAFSA - spent literally hours searching through my parent account before realizing I was looking in the completely wrong place. The fact that parents do all the heavy lifting with tax information and financial details but then can't access the final results is such a confusing design choice. One thing I'm wondering about - for those who have multiple children going through college at the same time, how do you manage keeping track of which SAR belongs to which kid? Do the SARs look similar, or are there clear identifiers to help avoid mix-ups when submitting to different schools? Also, has anyone encountered issues where the financial aid office claims they never received the SAR even though you submitted it? I want to be prepared for any potential hiccups in this process!

As a newcomer who just started this process with my daughter last month, I'm so grateful I found this thread! I was pulling my hair out trying to find the SAR in my parent account after completing the entire FAFSA myself. The system really is counterintuitive - why would they design it so the person doing all the work can't see the results? Anyway, I wanted to add one tip that helped us: when you do find the SAR in your child's student account, take a screenshot of the page showing where it's located in addition to downloading the PDF. I did this and it made it so much easier when I had to help my friend navigate to hers a few weeks later. Also, I learned the hard way to double-check that the SAR actually downloaded completely - the first time I tried, it only downloaded the first page and I didn't realize until the financial aid office told me it was incomplete. These little details can save a lot of frustration later!

As a complete newcomer to the FAFSA process, this thread has been absolutely invaluable! I'm currently helping my daughter with her first application and was completely lost about where to find the SAR. Like so many others here, I spent way too much time searching in my parent account after doing all the work to complete the FAFSA. The system design really is baffling - it would be like filling out your tax return but only being able to see the results on someone else's computer! I'm curious for those who've been through this process - is there any rhyme or reason to the timing of when SARs become available? Our FAFSA shows as "processed" but I want to set proper expectations with my daughter about when to start checking her account. Also, does the SAR ever get updated automatically if schools make corrections, or do we need to resubmit the FAFSA entirely for any changes? Thanks everyone for sharing your hard-won wisdom - this community is a lifesaver for confused parents like me!

As a newcomer to this whole FAFSA maze, I'm so relieved to find this thread! I'm currently going through the exact same issue with my twin daughters - completed both of their FAFSAs using my parent account but have been frantically searching MY dashboard for their SARs for the past week. The college financial aid offices keep asking for them and I was starting to panic! Now I understand I need to use each daughter's individual FSA ID to access their separate student accounts. One question for the experienced parents here - since I have twins applying to some of the same schools, is there any risk of the schools mixing up their SARs if I submit them around the same time? They have different Social Security numbers obviously, but I'm worried about potential confusion on the administrative side. Also, has anyone dealt with the situation where one twin's SAR shows up but the other's doesn't, even though both FAFSAs were submitted simultaneously? Thanks so much for all the detailed guidance - this process is way more complicated than anyone warned me it would be!