AVOID COSTLY MISTAKES
Get More Grants And Scholarships When You Know The Amount That Colleges Will Expect Your Family To Pay In Advance
If you plan to send your kid to college, your Student Aid Index (SAI) is THE most important financial number in your life.
Colleges use the financial information that you give them on the FAFSA®(financial aid application) to calculate your SAI to determine how much tuition you can afford to pay before they offer any grants and scholarships.
Many colleges even use your SAI to qualify your student for admissions and merit scholarships. Your SAI can literally be the difference between getting accepted, put on a waitlist, or outright rejected.
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER complete the FAFSA® (financial aid application) before you know what your Student Aid Index (SAI) number is.
Why you will want to know your SAI...
It's Your Key to Federal Financial Aid
The FAFSA®season approaches fast for many families, but you should NEVER complete and submit your FAFSA® without knowing what your SAI is first. Once you commit your financial status on the FAFSA® your opportunity to use strategies to increase financial aid is gone.
It's Required To Receive Financial Aid
Your SAI is a requirement for almost all need-based financial aid programs. NO college will offer financial aid without an estimated SAI calculated from your FAFSA®.
COLLEGES REQUIRE IT FOR THEIR MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS
Many colleges will not offer merit scholarships without an estimated SAI calculated from the FAFSA®. These colleges will dictate the amount of their merit offer based on the family’s SAI.
COLLEGES REQUIRE IT IN THEIR ADMISSIONS PROCESS
Many colleges base their admissions on the family’s ability to pay the tuition bill as much as the student academic ability. Some colleges will put the student on their WAITING LIST for admissions without an estimated SAI from the FAFSA®application.
YOU CAN DEVELOP STRATEGIES IN ADVANCE
There are financial strategies that can cut your SAI amount and qualify your student for more grants and scholarships, but you MUST know your SAI amount in advance in order to plan ahead.
YOU CAN DEVELOP A PRICE NEGOTIATION PLAN
Knowing your SAI in advance will allow you to pick other ideal colleges to obtain grant and scholarship offers in order to use those awards to negotiate the price with a college, or colleges, the student would rather attend.
Testimonials
Don't just take our word for it. Here are what some other college-bound families have to say about using our free Simple SAI™ Calculator…-
Once I calculated my SAI ahead of time, my family knew which colleges we could, and could not afford. Planning and picking colleges after that was a piece of cake. I found this tool very thorough and not difficult to use.
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"After days of pulling my hair out trying to complete the FAFSA… I found this online SAI calculator. I filled in my info, got my SAI amount, and was even provided advice on how to reduce college costs and strategies to pay the bill. This was like a mock run for completing the real (and confusing) FAFSA. "
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"Believe me; you will want to know what your SAI amount is before you ever give the colleges your financial information. After using this tool to calculate my SAI, my Certified College Funding Specialist gave me a couple ideas on how to reduce it, and now my daughter attends Dennison University for less than I would have paid for her to go to Ohio State."
You Might Be Wondering (FAQ)
What is my Student Aid Index or SAI?
Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is a measure of your family’s financial strength based on a formula established by the Department of Education. The SAI is the minimum amount that colleges will expect your family to pay for a year of college.
How is the Student Aid Index (SAI) amount determined?
The SAI formula calculates your family’s income and assets, along with your family size, and the number of family members who will attend college during the year taken from the FAFSA financial aid application. Your information is calculated using the Department of Education's formula to determine how much financial aid a student is eligible to receive from the colleges.
Is my SAI amount based on the student, or the parent's income and assets?
Both.
I’m pretty sure my family’s income is too high to qualify for any financial, so why do I need to have my SAI calculated?
Your SAI is just one part of your student’s overall profile. At many colleges the SAI is used in admissions to determine if the family can even afford to attend their college. Furthermore, high-income families also have the ability to negotiate the price of tuition with colleges, but the college will never engage in any price negotiation without knowing the family's SAI first.
My children attend a private high school, and a school counselor had us calculate our family’s SAI manually. How is this different?
Many schools provide parents with the formula and tell them to calculate their SAI. Generally it is a very basic estimate, our SAI calculator is an easy to complete mock run of financial aid application and includes strategy opportunities to lower your family’s SAI. Your school counselors are not financial experts, and it’s doubtful they can provide your family this kind of detail.
Do I really need to have my SAI calculated?
YES! You must establish an SAI amount before any colleges can offer the student college grants and scholarships, work-study programs, and even low-interest student loans. So if you don’t want to pay the full sticker price for college, at some point, you will need to complete the FAFSA and have your SAI calculated.
How can I be sure that my personal and financial information is secure and that only my family and college funding advisor can access the info?
Security is built into everything we do so you can input your information confidently. We safeguard your information by encrypting using SSL encryption.
Once I submit the information to calculate my SAI, how will I know if there are procedures or strategies that I can use to help reduce my SAI to qualify for more grants and scholarships?
When you submit your personal and financial information, both you and your Certified College Funding Specialists® will receive your SAI Summary. Your Certified College Funding Specialist® will review your information and come up with suggestions and strategies to reduce costs and develop a college funding plan for your family.
Jodi Bloom, CCFS®
CERTIFIED COLLEGE FUNDING SPECIALIST®
Life & Annuities Agent
161 Madison Avenue Suite 230, Morristown NJ, 07960
(201) 463-3024