Will leaving FAFSA family size blank increase our SAI with family of 4?

omg same thing happened to me last year!! the blank family size made our SAI wayyyy higher bc it calculated us as a 1-person household. def submit correction asap!!

Yes, a blank family size will significantly increase your SAI. The FAFSA formula uses household size as a major factor in calculating your Student Aid Index. With a blank entry, the system typically defaults to a single-person household, which gives you fewer allowances against your income. For a family of 4 with average income, this could potentially increase your SAI by $5,000-$8,000, possibly more depending on your specific financial situation. Submit a correction immediately through the "Make FAFSA Corrections" option on studentaid.gov.

I had the EXACT same problem last November! I somehow left the family size blank and it absolutely wrecked my SAI calculation - it went from what should have been around $7,800 to over $15,000! I called the Federal Student Aid helpline every day for two weeks trying to get through to fix it but kept getting disconnected or stuck on hold for hours. Finally I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual FSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have this system that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. Here's a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Talking to the agent directly was SO much better than just submitting the correction online because they confirmed exactly what needed to be fixed and marked it urgent in their system.

Submit a correction IMMEDIATELY!!! The FAFSA system is COMPLETELY BROKEN this year!! My daughter's application showed the wrong family size too and her SAI came back TRIPLE what it should have been!!! We've been fighting with them for 6 WEEKS to get it fixed and her university is telling us they can't package her aid until it's resolved! THIS SYSTEM IS A DISASTER!!!

Financial aid administrator here. Just to clarify some technical aspects: 1) Yes, a blank family size will default to 1 in the SAI calculation formula 2) Each additional household member creates an Income Protection Allowance (IPA) in the formula that shields more of your income from counting toward your SAI 3) For 2025-2026 FAFSA, the difference between a household of 1 versus 4 creates approximately $8,400 additional IPA, which could reduce your SAI by $4,200 or more depending on your tax filing status and income level 4) Submit corrections immediately, but also contact your school's financial aid office to alert them to the pending correction so they can put a hold on your aid package if it hasn't been processed yet

My brother actually works in financial aid and he told me the family size thing is one of the most common FAFSA mistakes. He said like 40% of people fill it out wrong. When we did our fafsa last month we spent like 20 minutes just on that section because he said it can make thousands of dollars difference. You should definitely call and get it fixed before they finalize everything.

btw one thing no one mentioned... make sure u check the actual FAFSA form, not just the confirmation summary. sometimes the summary email looks blank for certain fields even when u did fill them out correctly on the actual form. happened to my roommate and she freaked out for nothing lol

Just to follow up - I want to address the timing question. Since we're still early in the FAFSA cycle for 2025-2026 aid, making this correction now shouldn't negatively impact your aid timeline as long as you do it promptly. Schools typically don't finalize aid packages until late spring/early summer, so you have some time. But don't delay - the sooner you correct it, the sooner your accurate SAI will be calculated.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm a parent who just went through the FAFSA process for the first time and I can't believe how confusing some of these sections are. The family size question seems straightforward but there are so many edge cases - like do you count yourself if you're married filing separately, or what about dependents who are over 18 but still in high school? I ended up calling the helpline twice just to make sure I had it right. For anyone else who might be unsure, the FAFSA website has a pretty good worksheet that walks you through who to include in your household size. Better to double-check than end up in Oliver's situation!