What is the SAI? How this score impacts what you pay for college

Before you or a child heads off to college, you likely want to explore financial aid to understand all funding options available to you. A metric known as the Student Aid Index will significantly affect how much assistance you'll receive.

What is the SAI, and how does it impact awards such as grants and scholarships? We'll explain how it works, so can you get the maximum amount of financial relief in the upcoming year.

Beginning in the 2024–2025 academic year, colleges and universities use information about your income and assets to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI). This number helps determine whether you qualify for certain grants, student loans and other assistance.

The Student Aid Index is a number ranging from -1500 to 999999 that represents a student's eligibility for need-based aid. You can see your index once your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) is processed and you receive your student aid report. The lower your SAI, the more of this type of financial aid you'll qualify for.

The SAI essentially replaced a figure known as the Expected Family Contribution. The EFC often caused confusion among students and parents, who thought the number represented the actual dollar amount they had to pay for the year. By shifting to the Student Aid Index, the U.S. Department of Education hopes to avoid those misconceptions going forward.

A negative number indicates greater eligibility for income-based assistance. For instance, a score of -1500 means you would qualify for the largest Pell Grant available, depending on your status as a part-time or full-time student and the cost of attendance at your school.

A positive SAI does not mean that you won't receive any federal financial aid. However, the higher the score (up to a maximum of 999999), the harder it is to access certain awards.

Information about your family's assets and income, as reported on your FAFSA, is used to calculate your Student Aid Index. This number determines your eligibility for financial aid such as:

• Grants
• Scholarships
• Federal student loans
• Work-study opportunities

The full cost to attend a given school includes tuition, room and board, and fees. A school's financial aid office will subtract your SAI from the cost of attendance to determine your financial need. Not every school provides enough financial aid to meet the entirety of the student's financial need. If your aid package isn't enough to cover your costs, you may need to seek out other sources of funding, including private student loans.

The SAI only uses information on your FAFSA to calculate federal aid. However, some colleges may require you to fill out a more detailed financial aid application known as the CSS Profile to determine your eligibility for institutional aid, such as university grants and scholarships.

You won't receive an official Student Aid Index until your FAFSA is processed. However, getting an idea of your financial aid eligibility ahead of time allows you to set realistic expectations and better prepare for the cost of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid Estimator can help in that regard. Once you complete a series of questions about your household size and financial status—a process that usually takes only 5–10 minutes—you'll see your estimated Student Aid Index (SAI) and estimated federal aid. This projected aid amount is broken down into your projected Pell Grant award, maximum available direct loan amount and average work-study funds.

Your SAI determines how much help you can expect to cover college costs. Here's what you need to know about how the Department of Education arrives at this important figure.

Your SAI is calculated based on financial information from your annual FAFSA. Typically, the FAFSA pulls this information directly from your tax return. In some cases, you may need to enter your tax information manually.

The index is the result of adding your and your parents' (or spouse's) total financial resources and then subtracting annual living expenses. You'll see an estimated SAI on the confirmation page once you complete the FAFSA online. The Department of Education will then send you the official SAI as part of the FAFSA Submission Summary after processing the application.

A number of factors influence your SAI, and therefore the amount of federal aid for which you're eligible. These include:

• The student's marital status
• The student's adjusted gross income (AGI) and assets
• The size of the student's family
• The parents' AGI and assets (if the student is a dependent)

Assets that may increase your SAI (and lower your financial aid award) include cash, bank account balances, CDs, student-owned custodial accounts and brokerage investment accounts. However, certain types of assets—including the family's primary residence, life insurance policies and retirement accounts—do not affect the index.

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In effect, the Student Aid Index has replaced the Expected Family Contribution when calculating your financial aid package. The basic formula for calculating both the SAI and EFC is the same: Adding the financial resources of both you and your parents and then deducting the normal living expenses for a family your size.

The decision to transition away from the term "Expected Family Contribution" was largely about bringing clarity to the financial aid process. The Department of Education believes the new Student Aid Index is less likely to be confused with the actual amount you're required to pay in a given year, as was often the case with the EFC. The fact that the SAI can now be a negative number (as low as -1500) also helps identify which students have the greatest financial need.

There are a few more substantive differences between the EFC and SAI as well. For example, the SAI does not factor in the number of family members who are currently attending college, which the EFC previously did. Therefore, you won't receive a higher amount of aid because you have a sibling who's enrolled in college at the same time. In addition, certain assets that weren't included in the EFC calculation, such as farms and small businesses, are now factored into the SAI.

Because some assets result in a higher SAI—and thus a lower amount of financial aid—and some don't, smart planning can pay off by the time you or your child applies for college. Here are some strategies that can help boost your award:

• Transfer your assets. You may want to pay down debt or move funds into accounts that won't contribute to your SAI, like IRAs and 401(k)s. However, you may want to keep an emergency fund that can cover three to six months' of expenses.
• Contribute to a traditional IRA or HSA. If you contribute to these tax-deductible accounts before filing the FAFSA, you'll lower your adjusted gross income as well as your SAI.
• Time your stock sales wisely. The FAFSA uses income figures dating back to the prior-prior year—for new college students, that usually starts January 1 of their sophomore year in high school. Avoid generating capital gains by selling stocks until it no longer counts against your financial aid.
• Provide the correct income figure. Make sure to report adjusted gross income, not gross income (your pay before deducting health insurance premiums), on the FAFSA. Mistakenly entering gross income will result in a higher SAI.

If you're a high school senior, completing your FAFSA early can help ensure that you get the maximum amount of federal assistance. Many schools issue aid on a first-come, first-serve basis, so filing promptly—the 2025–2026 FAFSA was made available on December 1, 2024—can make a big difference. Being proactive can help with other financial aid sources as well. Colleges and states frequently have different deadlines for their own awards, so keeping track of those dates is essential.

It's a good idea to fill out the FAFSA, even if you don't think you'll qualify for need-based aid. That's because the application helps make you eligible for certain grants and scholarships that are available to all students, regardless of income. It also helps determine whether you can receive federal Direct Loans, which tend to have lower interest rates than private loans.