Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number the FAFSA calculates from your family’s income, assets and household. Colleges use it to measure your financial need. It runs from -1500 to 999999. A lower number means greater need, and it is not a bill or a dollar amount you are expected to pay.
The SAI replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) under the FAFSA Simplification Act. The name changed partly because “expected contribution” misled families. Federal Student Aid now states plainly that the SAI “is not what your family is expected to provide,” in its one-page SAI explainer.
What the student aid index is, and what it is not
Federal Student Aid describes the SAI as “a formula-based index number ranging from -1500 to 999999” that “represents an estimated level of financial need for the student.” The same explainer lists three things it is not:
- It is not the amount of aid you will receive.
- It is not what your family is expected to pay.
- It is not your final financial aid offer.
Think of it as a ranking tool. Your SAI places you on a scale, and each college combines that position with its own price to decide how much need-based aid you can get.
How colleges turn your SAI into aid
The basic formula is simple:
Cost of attendance (COA) – Student Aid Index (SAI) = financial need
Federal Student Aid’s own example uses a $16,000 cost of attendance and an SAI of 12000. That leaves the student eligible for up to $4,000 in need-based aid at that school, according to the SAI explainer. The same SAI at a college that costs $60,000 would show $48,000 of need.
That is why one SAI produces very different offers. Need is calculated school by school. Whether a college actually meets that need with grants, loans or work-study is a separate question, and our guide to comparing financial aid award letters shows how to read an offer.
Why your SAI can be negative
The scale starts at -1500, not zero. A negative SAI marks the students with the greatest financial need. The point is to tell colleges more about students who would all have had a zero EFC under the old formula. Federal Student Aid’s explainer shows the low end of the range as “higher financial need (likely lower income with limited access to financial resources).”
For a Pell Grant, the federal rules also look at income directly. A student can get the maximum Pell through a separate test that compares the family’s adjusted gross income with the federal poverty guideline. For dependent students, the cutoff is 175% of the guideline when there are two parents and 225% with a single parent, according to the FSA Handbook’s Pell calculation chapter. Colleges and states can still use a negative SAI to rank need for their own grants.
SAI and the Pell Grant in 2026-27
For students who do not qualify for the maximum or minimum award through the income tests, Pell is calculated directly from the SAI: the maximum Pell minus your SAI, rounded to the nearest $5. These rules are in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-26-01.
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| 2026-27 figure | Amount | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum Pell Grant | $7,395 | The most a full-time student can get in a year |
| Minimum Pell Grant | $740 | A calculated award below this is not paid as a calculated award |
| SAI cutoff for any Pell | $14,790 | An SAI equal to or greater than twice the maximum Pell means no Pell, under Public Law 119-21 |
The cutoff is new. The July 2025 reconciliation law, Public Law 119-21, “prohibits an applicant whose SAI is equal to or greater than twice the maximum Pell Grant amount for the award year from receiving a Pell Grant.” For 2026-27 that threshold is $14,790. The rule does not apply to students eligible under the Special Rule for dependents of certain deceased servicemembers and public safety officers, according to GEN-26-01 and Electronic Announcement APP-25-23.
The 2027-28 maximum Pell had not been announced as of November 2026, so the 2027-28 cutoff is not known yet either. Our Pell Grant eligibility guide covers the full rules.
What goes into the SAI
The SAI is calculated from what you and your contributors report on the FAFSA, much of it transferred from the IRS. In broad terms, the formula weighs:
- Income from the tax year two years before the award year (2025 income for the 2027-28 FAFSA)
- Reportable assets such as cash, savings and investments
- Family size
- For dependent students, both the parents’ and the student’s own finances
Two changes from the 2025 law affect what counts, starting with the 2026-27 FAFSA. First, the net worth of a family-owned business with 100 or fewer full-time or full-time-equivalent employees, a farm the family lives on, and a family commercial fishing business are no longer counted as assets. Second, for Pell eligibility, foreign earned income excluded from US tax is now added back to adjusted gross income. Both changes are in APP-25-23.
Where to find your SAI
You will see your SAI in three places during the aid process, according to Federal Student Aid’s explainer:
- An estimated SAI on the confirmation page right after you submit the FAFSA
- Your official SAI on the FAFSA Submission Summary, once the form is processed
- Sometimes a school-calculated figure on your aid offer, when the college uses its own formula for its own money
The handbook says students who give an email address get a link to the Submission Summary within one to three days after the form is processed, according to the Application and Verification Guide.
When a college uses a different number
The federal SAI decides Pell, federal subsidized loans and work-study. A college handing out its own grants does not have to use it. Federal Student Aid notes that schools and private scholarship organizations “may use their own SAI formula to calculate eligibility for their institutional aid,” with factors the federal formula leaves out, according to the explainer. Many private colleges collect that extra information through the CSS Profile.
That is why your federal SAI can look low while a private college still expects more from your family, or the other way around. Our guide to merit aid vs need-based aid explains how colleges award their own money.
What to do if your SAI looks wrong
Start with the FAFSA Submission Summary, not the college. Federal Student Aid recommends checking the summary to confirm your answers, since “an incorrect answer may cause errors in your SAI,” and many errors can be fixed online with a correction, according to the explainer. Common culprits:
- A family business or farm reported as an asset when it qualifies for the exclusion
- The wrong parent listed after a divorce or separation
- Asset balances typed as annual figures, or the reverse
If the answers are right but the number no longer reflects your family, for example because of a job loss or a big medical bill since 2025, ask the college for a professional judgment review. Our financial aid appeal guide covers what to send.
Your SAI on the Submission Summary is the figure every college on your FAFSA list will receive. Write it down next to each school’s cost of attendance, subtract, and you have each school’s need figure before a single offer arrives.
Sources
- Federal Student Aid, The Student Aid Index (SAI) Explained
- Federal Student Aid, Dear Colleague Letter GEN-26-01: 2026-27 Federal Pell Grant Maximum and Minimum Award Amounts
- Federal Student Aid, Electronic Announcement APP-25-23: 2026-27 FAFSA Form and Pell Grant Eligibility Updates
- Federal Student Aid, 2026-27 FSA Handbook, Volume 7, Chapter 2: Calculating Pell Grants
- Federal Student Aid, 2026-27 Application and Verification Guide, Chapter 2: Filling Out the FAFSA Form