About fafsa
FAFSA may be free, but mistakes are costly!
Hundreds of thousands of these applications are submitted incorrectly each year, and common mistakes can be extremely costly.
The FAFSA uses a federal formula to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI). This is determined as a function of yours and your parent’s assets, income and financial situation as a whole. This SAI is then subtracted from the Total Cost of Attendance at each school where you apply, to yield your financial need at that school.
Financial Need = Total Cost of Attendance (TCOA) − Student Aid Index (SAI)
To maximize your benefit, you'll want to:
explore our resources to avoid common fafsa mistakes
use a fafsa calculator to estimate your sai and subsequent financial need
Complete the fafsa renewal each year to renew your eligibility
