Will SAI of 13435 qualify for Pell Grant with two kids in college?

Having multiple students in college doesn't directly affect Pell Grant eligibility the way it used to. The new FAFSA (2024-2025 and beyond) eliminated the sibling discount in the SAI calculation. Your Pell Grant eligibility is based primarily on your SAI number, not the number of children you have in school. With an SAI of 13435, you're likely just outside the Pell Grant range for 2025-2026. The current cutoff is around 7000-8000 for any Pell eligibility. However, each school might offer different institutional aid packages considering you have two in college.

We have 3 kids in college and I was SHOCKED when our aid didn't increase at all from last year!!! The new FAFSA completely screwed families with multiple kids in college. Used to be they divided your EFC by the number of kids but now the SAI stays the same no matter how many you have in school. TOTAL DISASTER for big families!!!

While your SAI of 13435 is likely above the Pell Grant threshold, you should absolutely reach out to the financial aid offices at both schools for professional judgment reviews. Having multiple children in college simultaneously creates a financial hardship that isn't fully captured in the new FAFSA methodology. Specifically request a "Professional Judgment Review Based on Multiple Children in College" at both schools. Bring documentation of both enrollments and your financial circumstances. Many schools have institutional funds they can provide even when federal aid isn't available. Also, don't forget to look into the American Opportunity Tax Credit for both students, which can provide up to $2,500 per eligible student.

My SAI was 14000 last year and my kid got zero pell grant money so ur probably not getting any either sorry

I spent 4 hours trying to call Federal Student Aid to ask this exact question last week!! Kept getting disconnected or put on hold forever. Finally I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to someone without the wait. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FSA agent told me that Pell eligibility cutoff is around 7000-8000 SAI for full Pell, and partial grants up to about 9000 SAI. With 13435, you're unfortunately probably not eligible for Pell specifically, but the agent said to check with each school because they might have institutional grants for families with multiple kids in college.

My nieghbor works in financial aid and she says everyone is mad about the multiple kids in college thing changing. She said you should DEFINTELY appeal your aid at both schools and mention the multiple kids thing specificaly. Some schools have special funds just for this situation now that FAFSA doesnt help with it anymore. Did you do the CSS profile too??? Some schools require it for extra aid!!!

I'm dealing with a similar situation with my twins starting college this fall. Our SAI is around 12000 and we didn't qualify for Pell Grants either. What I found is that we qualified for a lot more subsidized loans than friends with similar incomes but only one kid in school. So while the Pell Grant might be out of reach, you should still see some benefits in the types of loans offered. Also, have you checked if either of your children qualify for merit scholarships? With your SAI, focusing on merit aid might be more productive than need-based aid at this point.

One more thing to consider: make sure both students complete their own FAFSA applications separately. Even though your SAI is calculated at the parent level, each student needs their own application. Sometimes I see families missing out on aid because they incorrectly think one FAFSA covers all their children. Also, the SAI can sometimes change slightly due to student-specific factors, so don't assume both will have identical aid packages.

Contact your congressperson!!!!! Seriously, this change to FAFSA is DESTROYING middle class families with multiple kids in college. There's a group of parents pushing for legislation to fix this. The more complaints they get the better chance we have of getting this fixed!!