Estimate the dependent-student SAI from the federal methodology.
Covers: fafsa, sai, student aid index, financial aid, college, pell.
Open the FAFSA Student Aid Index tool →The Student Aid Index (SAI) is what colleges subtract from the cost of attendance to size your federal aid. The federal methodology is a published, deterministic formula, so we can show every step.
We start from the parents' total income, subtract allowances (federal income tax paid, a payroll-tax allowance, an income protection allowance for your family size, and an employment expense allowance for two-earner households), add a small share of the parents' savings and investments, and run the result through the federal assessment schedule. We add the student's own contribution (a share of their income above a protected amount, plus a share of their assets). Under the 2026-27 methodology the result is no longer divided by the number of children in college, and the SAI can be as low as -$1,500.
This is an estimate of the dependent-student formula, computed entirely on your device from the published 2026-27 tables. Verify it against the official SAI Formula Guide and your FAFSA Submission Summary before relying on it. The independent-student formula and per-state aid are out of scope for now.
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