Student Aid Index (SAI) Estimator

About Your Household

People in your household (you, the student, siblings, etc.)

Number of family members in college (for context — note: this no longer lowers your SAI)

Two parents who both work (or a working single parent)

Parent Finances (annual)

Parents' adjusted gross income (AGI) (from tax return)

Parents' untaxed income (untaxed retirement contributions, etc. — optional)

Parents' assets (savings, investments, 529s — NOT your home or retirement accounts)

Student Finances (annual)

Student's income (the student's own earnings)

Student's assets (the student's own savings)

Your Estimated Student Aid Index (SAI)

Enter your finances above. Lower is better — a lower SAI signals more financial need.

What Your SAI Means

Lower SAI = more potential aid. The SAI estimates what a family might be able to contribute. A college subtracts your SAI from its Cost of Attendance to gauge your financial need. SAI can even be negative (as low as −$1,500) for the highest-need families.

SAI is not a bill. It doesn't mean you'll pay exactly that — it's an index that helps determine eligibility for need-based aid. What you actually pay depends on each college's cost and how much aid it awards (see our Net Price calculator).

File the FAFSA no matter what. Even with a high SAI, filing unlocks federal student loans, work-study, and many scholarships — and it's free. Never skip it. The FAFSA opens each fall.

Simplified estimate for planning only. Excludes some allowances and special cases (e.g., business/farm assets, the automatic-zero SAI provisions). For an official estimate use the Federal Student Aid Estimator (studentaid.gov). See the K12 Academics Paying for College toolkit.