Why is our FAFSA SAI so high with $145k income? Need urgent correction before July payment

sounds like they filled something out wrong on the FAFSA. with that income & family size, SAI shouldnt be that high unless they have major assets somewhere. has your brother checked all the numbers? especially savings, investments, or business assets? those can really jack up the SAI

Your brother needs to submit a correction to the FAFSA immediately. That SAI is definitely incorrect for their income level with a family of three. From my experience working with families, the most common errors are: 1. Accidentally including retirement accounts in the asset calculations (these should be EXCLUDED) 2. Reporting home equity as an asset (primary residence equity is NOT counted) 3. Misreporting business value (small family businesses under certain thresholds shouldn't be counted) 4. Simple data entry errors (like putting a decimal in the wrong place) They should log into studentaid.gov right away, select "Make FAFSA Corrections," and carefully review every financial question. Pay special attention to the asset sections.

we had almost the exact same issue last yr!! our SAI was like 15k higher than it shouldve been. turned out my husband put our 401ks in the investment section lol. once we fixed it our SAI dropped a TON and we qualified for way more aid. def worth checking!!

As a financial aid advisor, I see this mistake constantly. The FAFSA questions about assets can be extremely confusing. Retirement accounts (401k, IRA, pension plans) are PROTECTED assets and should NOT be included in your reportable assets. If they've already identified and corrected the error, the next step is ensuring the schools receive the updated information. Here's what they should do: 1. After submitting the correction online, call the financial aid office at the college directly 2. Explain the situation and the correction that was made 3. Ask if they need to submit any additional documentation 4. Request that their aid package be recalculated based on the corrected SAI Most schools will work with you on this, especially if the correction significantly changes the aid eligibility.

FAFSA is SOOO frustrating!!! The questions are written terribly and they expect everyone to somehow understand all these financial terms?! I made the same mistake and included my retirement accounts last year. My SAI was insanely high and I had to fight with the financial aid office for WEEKS to get it fixed. They kept telling me "we can only use the info provided by FAFSA" which was WRONG! Eventually I got through to someone who actually helped. The whole system is designed to confuse people and deny aid. It's ridiculous.

I've been helping students with FAFSA issues for years and the fastest way to resolve this is to call Federal Student Aid directly. The online correction will eventually process, but direct contact can expedite things, especially with a July deadline approaching. I'd recommend using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent quickly. They have a service that helps you bypass the long hold times when calling Federal Student Aid. They even have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Once they get through, they should explain the specific error (including retirement accounts as assets) and ask how quickly the correction will process. The agent can often prioritize corrections when there are impending financial deadlines.

Once they've submitted the correction online and contacted Federal Student Aid, they should also email the financial aid office at the college with the subject line "URGENT: FAFSA SAI Correction Required Before Payment Deadline." In the email, they should: 1. Include their student ID number 2. Briefly explain the specific error (retirement accounts incorrectly included as assets) 3. Mention they've already submitted the correction through studentaid.gov 4. Request a temporary hold on the payment deadline until the corrected SAI is processed 5. Ask for confirmation that this won't affect the student's course registration Most financial aid offices are willing to work with families when there's a legitimate FAFSA error being corrected, especially when it's a common mistake like this one.

btw after u get this fixed make sure they check if they qualify for the middle income access grant or whatever ur state calls it. lots of ppl assume they make too much but with $145k and that corrected SAI they might get something. my bros family makes like $155k and still got some state aid even tho they thought they wouldnt qualify for anything

Did ur brother already send in the payment for July??? If he did they might be able to adjust it retroactively once the FAFSA is fixed. My daughters school did that for us - they credited the difference to her fall semester after our correction went thru.

Wow, what a relief that you figured it out! This is such a common mistake and your post is going to help so many other families. The retirement account confusion gets people every single year - the FAFSA wording is just terrible on that section. For anyone else reading this thread, here's a quick reminder of what NOT to include as assets on FAFSA: - 401k, 403b, IRA, and other retirement accounts - Primary home equity - Life insurance cash value - Small family farm value (under certain conditions) Your brother's experience is exactly why I always tell families to double-check their SAI against online calculators before assuming it's correct. A $60k+ SAI for $145k income should have been an immediate red flag. Glad you caught it in time for the July deadline!

This whole thread is so helpful! I'm dealing with FAFSA for the first time with my oldest starting college next year, and honestly the retirement account thing would have totally tripped me up too. The way the questions are worded makes it sound like you should include ALL your savings and investments. It's crazy that such a common mistake can swing your SAI by tens of thousands of dollars! Makes me wonder how many families are missing out on aid they deserve just because of confusing wording. Definitely bookmarking this post for when I fill out our FAFSA - and I'll be extra careful about that asset section. Thanks for sharing your experience and the update about figuring it out!

This is such a perfect example of why I always tell people to use the Federal Student Aid Estimator BEFORE submitting their actual FAFSA! With $145k income and a family of 3, your SAI should be somewhere in the $15k-25k range, not $60k+. That retirement account mistake is SO common - I've seen it dozens of times. For anyone else reading this, if your SAI seems way off compared to online calculators, definitely don't just accept it. The FAFSA questions around assets are genuinely confusing, especially the way they word the investment questions. Your brother's quick correction probably saved the family thousands in potential aid! Also pro tip: after the correction processes, have them run the numbers through their state's financial aid calculator too. Many states have income-based grants that families don't even know about.

This thread is incredibly helpful! As someone who works in college financial planning, I see this exact mistake constantly - the retirement account confusion probably affects thousands of families every year. What's frustrating is how the FAFSA form could easily clarify this with better wording, but instead families have to learn through trial and error or posts like this. For anyone dealing with similar issues, I always recommend having families document their correction with screenshots before submitting. If there are any delays or disputes with the school, having that paper trail showing exactly what was changed and when can be really valuable. Also, once the correction processes and the aid package is recalculated, make sure to get the new award letter in writing - sometimes there can be communication gaps between the federal system and the school's financial aid office. Great job catching this error and sharing the solution with everyone!

As someone who went through this exact same nightmare two years ago, I can't stress enough how important this post is! My daughter's SAI was completely wrong because I included our 401k and Roth IRA accounts in the asset section - I thought "investments" meant ALL investments. It took weeks to get it sorted out and we almost missed out on a state grant deadline. One thing I'd add for future FAFSA filers: if you're unsure about ANY question, call the Federal Student Aid hotline BEFORE submitting. Yes, the wait times are brutal, but it's way better than having to fix major errors later. Also, keep copies of all your tax documents and bank statements handy when filling it out - I made several smaller errors just from estimating numbers instead of looking them up properly. So glad your brother's family caught this in time! That corrected SAI should make a huge difference in their aid package.