The Student Aid Index (SAI) is the number colleges use to measure a family's eligibility for federal student aid, and this estimator runs the Department of Education's 2027-28 formula on your answers to estimate your SAI and your Federal Pell Grant.
Award yearPick the year you are applying for. The formula, the tax year and the poverty guidelines change from one year to the next. Applying now for fall 2027. Reads 2025 tax returns.
Your answers
Step 1 of 3: Dependency
Are you a dependent or an independent student?
Select every statement that applies to you.
Dependent students include their parents' income and assets in the formula, and independent students use their own. Answer yes to any of these 7 questions and you count as independent. Dependent here is a federal aid term. It does not depend on whether your parents claim you on their taxes.
Are you a U.S. citizen or an eligible noncitizen?
Federal student aid requires U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizen status. If you are not sure, choose Not sure and keep going. A college financial aid office can confirm your status. Choosing No stops the estimate.
Do any of these apply to you?
What each statement meansBorn before January 1, 2004. Were you born before January 1, 2004? That is the age cut-off for the 2027-28 award year. A yes makes you independent for federal aid, whatever your family situation.Married. Are you married? Answer yes if you are married or remarried. If you are separated or divorced, answer no.Master's or doctoral student. Will you be in a master's or doctoral program when 2027-28 begins? Programs such as an MA, MBA, MD, JD, PhD or EdD count, and so do graduate certificates. Graduate and professional students are independent for federal aid, and they do not get Federal Pell Grants.Children or dependents. Do you have children, or other people living with you, who get more than half their support from you? Count them now and through the end of the award year, June 30, 2028. Support means things like housing, food and clothing.Active duty or veteran. Are you on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, or are you a veteran? Active duty counts when it is for something other than training. A National Guard or Reserves member called to federal active duty for something other than training counts too. So does a veteran.Foster care or ward of court. Since you turned 13, were you in foster care, or a dependent or ward of the court, or were both your parents deceased? Also answer yes if a court has decided you are, or were when you reached adulthood, an emancipated minor or in legal guardianship.Homeless or at risk. Since July 1, 2026, has someone in an official role determined that you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless? The determination can come from a shelter or youth program director, your high school or school district, a TRIO or GEAR UP project director, or a college financial aid administrator.
You count as a dependent student The formula uses your parents' income and assets, plus your own. Federal aid defines dependent this way even when you support yourself or your parents do not claim you on their taxes. A financial aid administrator can change a dependent student to independent in documented unusual circumstances, and that is a decision only a college can make.
Step 2 of 3: Household
Who is in the household?
Dependent students answer for their parents.
Household size sets how much income the formula protects, and it sets the poverty-guideline cut-offs for Pell. Dependent students answer for their parents' household. Independent students answer for their own.
Who counts in household size?Dependent students count: yourself; your parents, including a parent on active duty who lives apart from the family (a parent who has died, or who lives apart because of divorce or separation, is left out); your siblings who get more than half their support from your parents now and through the end of the award year, whether they live at home or are away at college; and anyone else who lives with your parents and gets more than half their support from them.If your parents are divorced or separated and do not live together, use the household of the parent who gave you more financial support over the last 12 months. If the support was equal, use the parent with more income and assets.Independent students count: yourself, a spouse, your children, and others who live with you, when they get more than half their support from you now and through the end of the award year. Unborn children are not counted.
Whole number from 1 to 20. Count yourself, your parents and the others they support. See who counts below.
Are your parents married, or unmarried and living together?
Answer yes if your parents are married to each other, or unmarried but both legal parents who live together. If they are divorced, separated, widowed or never married, answer no.
Does my state change the result?Only Alaska and Hawaii do. Their federal poverty guidelines are higher, which moves the Pell income cut-offs. Every other state, DC and the territories use the same figures.State income taxes do not enter the 2027-28 SAI formula. The old state tax allowance tables are gone, replaced by a payroll tax allowance. State grants, such as California's Cal Grant, have their own rules and are not estimated here.
Only Alaska and Hawaii change the result. Dependent students choose their parents' state.
Step 3 of 3: Money
What did the household earn and own?
From the 2025 tax return. Leave a box blank if none.
Use the 2025 tax return, the year the 2027-28 FAFSA reads. Dependent students enter their parents' figures, and independent students enter their own plus a spouse's. Leave a box blank if it does not apply.
Did your parents file a 2025 federal tax return?
Choose No only if no federal return was filed. Non-filers get an SAI of the floor value and the maximum Pell Grant.
Where is adjusted gross income on a tax return?For the 2027-28 FAFSA it is line 11a on page 1 of the 2025 Form 1040, repeated as line 11b on page 2. The FAFSA reads income from two years before the award year starts, so 2025 returns are the ones that count. The 2026-27 award year reads 2024 returns instead, where AGI is line 11. Switch the award year above if that is the one you need.Use the AGI printed on the return you filed, not your pay stubs or W-2s. AGI is a total after some adjustments, so it is usually different from wages. If no one in the household filed a return, choose No on the tax-return question instead.Dependent students use their parents' combined AGI. If your parents are divorced or separated and do not live together, use the parent who gave you more financial support over the last 12 months, or the parent with more income and assets if the support was equal.
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Adjusted gross income, or AGI, is on line 11a of the 2025 Form 1040. It can be negative, so type a minus sign if it is. If your parents filed separate returns, add the two.
The federal income tax on the return, after credits, as the FAFSA asks for it. If you leave it blank we use zero, which can raise the SAI a little.
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More options
More income details
Optional. Leave these blank if you do not know them, and see the list of assumptions below the results for what that does.
Wages plus net self-employment income. If you leave it blank we use your AGI (or zero if AGI is below zero). Fill it in when part of your AGI is interest, dividends, capital gains or other money that is not from work.
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Add up deductible IRA or similar retirement payments, tax-exempt interest, and the untaxed part of IRA and pension distributions (rollovers subtracted). The FAFSA adds these to income. Leave blank if none.
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Only for people who excluded foreign earned income on their return. Enter the amount. The sign does not matter.
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The American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning credit claimed on the return. These reduce income in the formula, so leaving them blank can raise the SAI.
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College grant or scholarship money that was reported as income on the return. It reduces income in the formula.
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Federal Work-Study pay reported as income. It reduces income in the formula.
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Optional. We work this out from the marriage and head-of-household answers. Choose it here only if your return used a different status.
Savings and investments
The FAFSA only asks about these in some cases. If yours would not be asked, anything you enter here is ignored, and we say so.
Today's total across accounts, not an average.
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What counts as an asset?Counted: cash, savings and checking; investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market funds, trusts and time deposits; 529 and other education savings; real estate other than the home you live in, including vacation homes and rental property; and the net worth of businesses and investment farms. Child support received counts too.Not counted: retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or IRA, and the home the family lives in.Net worth is what something is worth minus what is owed on it. An investment worth less than its debt counts as zero, not as a negative number.
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Net worth, which is value minus what is owed on it. Count stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities, money market funds, time deposits, trusts, 529 and other education savings, and real estate other than the home you live in, including vacation homes and rental property. Do not count retirement accounts or your home. Enter zero if the net value is negative.
Net worth, which is value minus debt. The formula counts only part of a business or farm's net worth, and the share grows as the value does.
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Child support received in the last full calendar year. The FAFSA counts it as an asset.
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What decides whether assets count
Three answers from the tax return and the household decide whether the FAFSA asks about savings at all.
Did anyone in the household receive a federal means-tested benefit?
These are SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, TANF, WIC, free or reduced-price school lunch, federal housing assistance, and the refundable health insurance credit from the Marketplace. The FAFSA's own benefits question lists the programs and the years it covers. If the answer is yes, the FAFSA does not count assets.
Did the tax return include Schedule A, B, D, E, F or H?
A is itemized deductions, B is interest and ordinary dividends, D is capital gains and losses, E is rental, royalty, partnership and S corporation income, F is farm income, and H is household employment taxes. Any one of them means the FAFSA asks about assets.
Why aren't my savings counted?The FAFSA only asks about assets in some cases, and the formula uses only what it asks about. It does not ask when anyone in the household received a federal means-tested benefit. If no one did, it asks when AGI is $60,000 or more, when the return includes Schedule A, B, D, E, F or H, or when Schedule C shows a profit or loss of more than $10,000.Below all of those, the savings of the parents and of a dependent student do not enter the formula, so two families with the same income and different savings get the same SAI. This estimator follows the rule: if your answers mean the FAFSA would not ask about assets, we ignore the assets you typed and tell you.
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Line 31 of the 2025 Schedule C, if the return had one. A profit or a loss of more than $10,000 means the FAFSA asks about assets. Losses are negative.
The student's own income and savings
Dependent students only. A student's own money counts at a higher rate than a parent's: 50% of student income after allowances and 20% of student assets, compared with 12% of a parent's assets.
Adjusted gross income from your own tax return, if you filed one. Leave blank if you did not.
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Today's total in accounts that are yours.
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Net worth of investments in your name, using the same list as the parent investments field. Enter zero if the net value is negative.
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Net worth, which is value minus debt, of a business or farm that is yours.
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More about the student's own income
Federal income tax on your own return, after credits. Leave blank if none.
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Your wages plus net self-employment income. If you leave it blank we use your AGI (or zero).
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Deductible IRA payments, tax-exempt interest, and the untaxed part of IRA or pension distributions. Leave blank if none.
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Grant or scholarship money reported as income on your return. It reduces income in the formula.
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Federal Work-Study pay reported as income. It reduces income in the formula.
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Your estimate
Estimated Student Aid Index (SAI)
2,828
An index, not a dollar amount and not what a family pays.
Where your SAI falls
Your SAI: 2,828
-1,50006,65514,790
Maximum Pell
Partial Pell
No Pell
-1,500 (floor)
0 and below: maximum Pell
6,655: last SAI where the formula gives Pell (based on 2026-27 amounts)
14,790: no Pell Grant at or above this (based on 2026-27 amounts)
The scale runs from -1,500 to the no-Pell line at 14,790, which is twice the maximum (based on 2026-27 amounts). Above that line the SAI keeps rising, and the marker stays at the end.
SAI scale values
Measure
Value
SAI floor
-1,500
Last SAI where the formula gives Pell
6,655
No-Pell line
14,790
Your SAI
2,828
Pell Grant per yearEstimate, not an award. Only a college can award aid. Official numbers come from the Federal Student Aid Estimator and the FAFSA form.$4,565 (based on 2026-27 amounts)
Status
Partial Pell
Part of the maximum, which is $7,395 (based on 2026-27 amounts), set by the SAI.
See Breakdown
The Pell Grant is the maximum award (not yet announced for 2027-28; the 2026-27 maximum is $7,395), minus an SAI of 2,828, rounded to the nearest $5. The Pell dollars here are based on 2026-27 amounts.
Scheduled award for a full-time student for a full academic year.
Pell Grant meter
$0$7,395 (based on 2026-27 amounts)
The needle shows the estimated award out of the maximum, which is $7,395 (based on 2026-27 amounts) until ED announces 2027-28 amounts.
Pell Grant meter
Measure
Value
Estimated Pell Grant
$4,565 (based on 2026-27 amounts)
Maximum Pell Grant
$7,395 (based on 2026-27 amounts)
Want an official number?
Use the Federal Student Aid Estimator before you apply, then file the FAFSA form. Your official SAI appears on the FAFSA Submission Summary.
How the SAI was worked out: Dependent student worksheet (parents' and student's income and assets)
What this estimate assumes
These are the answers the form did not ask about, or filled in for you. Each one can move the result.
Award year. The estimate is for the 2027-28 award year, which reads 2025 tax returns and the 2025 poverty guidelines. That is the year students applying now for fall 2027 file. Choose 2026-27 with the award year selector if that is the one you need.
Pell amounts are placeholders. ED has not announced the 2027-28 maximum and minimum Pell Grant amounts, so the dollars use the 2026-27 amounts, $7,395 and $740. If ED announces different amounts, the Pell Grant and the no-Pell line move with them. The SAI does not change.
Full-time, full academic year. The Pell Grant shown is the scheduled award for a full-time student for a full academic year. Part-time enrollment, your college's cost of attendance, and the lifetime limit (12 semesters, about six years) can lower what is actually paid.
Published rules only. The formula is the one in ED's published guide (2027-28 Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide, Version 1, June 2026). The Pell amounts are 2026-27 placeholders from Dear Colleague Letter GEN-26-01. If ED corrects or changes either one, this estimate can differ.
Your figures as you typed them. The estimate uses the numbers you type. The FAFSA can import your figures from your 2025 tax return through the IRS, and any difference between that return and what you type changes the result.
All income is from work. All of the AGI is treated as money earned from work, which makes earned income $70,000 unless you entered another amount. Earned income sets the payroll tax and work-expense allowances.
Tax filing status. The tax filing status was assumed to be married filing jointly, based on the marriage and head-of-household answers. It sets the payroll tax thresholds and whether the single-parent Pell cut-offs apply.
How the Estimate Works
You are viewing the 2027-28 award year, which reads 2025 tax returns. It is the default because it is the year students applying now for fall 2027 file. The formula, the amounts and the tax year change from one year to the next.
The estimate works by running the Department of Education's published 2027-28 worksheets on your answers, then applying its Pell Grant rules. Nothing here is a rule of thumb. We tested the formula against the test records ED publishes for 2026-27 and 2027-28, and it matches every usable one to the dollar. For 2027-28 it also reproduces the worked example in ED's guide line by line.
Decide dependency from the 7 questions. That picks the worksheet: dependent students, independent students without dependents, or independent students with dependents.
Start with adjusted gross income, add untaxed income, and subtract education credits, taxable grant aid and work-study. Then subtract allowances: income tax paid, payroll taxes, an income protection allowance that rises with household size, and a work-expense allowance of 35% of earned income up to $5,200.
Add assets only if the FAFSA would ask about them. A parent's net worth counts at 12% and a dependent student's at 20%. A dependent student's own available income counts at 50%.
Run the result through the assessment schedule, which turns available income into the SAI. The SAI is never lower than -1,500.
Check the Pell rules. Income above zero and at or below 175% of the 2025 poverty guideline (225% for a single parent) earns the maximum. Otherwise Pell is the maximum minus the SAI, rounded to the nearest $5, while the SAI is 6,655 or less. Past that SAI, a household at or below a separate income line can still earn the minimum, and an SAI of twice the maximum (14,790) or more earns nothing. The Pell dollars and the 14,790 line are (based on 2026-27 amounts) until ED announces 2027-28 amounts.
Three example households under the 2027-28 rules. These are examples, not predictions, and not yours.
Example household
Adjusted gross income
SAI
Pell Grant, full year
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $70,000, no assets enteredThe Pell Grant is the maximum award (not yet announced for 2027-28; the 2026-27 maximum is $7,395), minus an SAI of 2,828, rounded to the nearest $5. The Pell dollars here are based on 2026-27 amounts.
$70,000
2,828
$4,565 (based on 2026-27 amounts), Partial Pell
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $40,000, no assets enteredIncome is above zero and at or below 175% of the 2025 poverty guideline for 4 people, which is $56,263. The rules award the maximum (not yet announced for 2027-28; the 2026-27 maximum is $7,395), whatever the formula gives. The Pell dollars here are based on 2026-27 amounts.
$40,000
-1,500
$7,395 (based on 2026-27 amounts), Max Pell
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $150,000, no assets enteredAn SAI of twice the maximum Pell Grant (14,790 on 2026-27 amounts) or more means no Pell Grant. Other aid, such as college scholarships and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, follows its own rules.
$150,000
31,669
$0 (based on 2026-27 amounts), No Pell
See the 2026-27 examples
Three example households under the 2026-27 rules. These are examples, not predictions, and not yours.
Example household
Adjusted gross income
SAI
Pell Grant, full year
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $70,000, no assets enteredThe Pell Grant is the maximum award, $7,395, minus an SAI of 3,248, rounded to the nearest $5.
$70,000
3,248
$4,145 (Partial Pell)
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $40,000, no assets enteredIncome is above zero and at or below 175% of the 2024 poverty guideline for 4 people, which is $54,600. The rules award the maximum, $7,395, whatever the formula gives.
$40,000
-1,500
$7,395 (Max Pell)
Dependent student, household of 4, married parents, AGI $150,000, no assets enteredAn SAI of 14,790 or more, twice the maximum Pell Grant, means no Pell Grant. Other aid, such as college scholarships and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, follows its own rules.
$150,000
32,900
$0 (No Pell)
Key Concepts About FAFSA & SAI
What does the SAI measure?
The SAI measures a student's eligibility for federal student aid. The Student Aid Index is an eligibility number, not a bill. A college subtracts it from the school's cost of attendance to find a student's financial need, and a lower SAI points to more need. The formula starts with income, takes out allowances for taxes and basic living costs, adds a share of the savings the FAFSA asks about, and adjusts for household size. Rapunzl's Paying For College module walks students through the FAFSA and how aid is awarded, and this estimator applies the same worksheets to your own answers.
Why might savings not count toward the SAI?
Savings might not count toward the SAI because, under the 2027-28 rules, the FAFSA only asks about savings and investments in some cases. If anyone in the household received a federal means-tested benefit, it does not ask. Otherwise it asks when AGI is $60,000 or more, when certain tax schedules were filed, or when a Schedule C shows a profit or loss of more than $10,000. Rapunzl built this estimator to apply that rule the way ED's specifications state it, which is why a family below all of those lines can type in savings and see no change.
How does an SAI turn into a Pell Grant?
An SAI turns into a Pell Grant by subtraction: Pell is the maximum award (not yet announced for 2027-28; the 2026-27 maximum is $7,395), minus the SAI, rounded to the nearest $5, as long as that leaves at least the minimum award (not yet announced for 2027-28; the 2026-27 minimum is $740). Two income shortcuts can lift an award to the maximum, and a separate income line can earn the minimum award. At an SAI of twice the maximum Pell Grant (14,790 on 2026-27 amounts) there is no Pell Grant. Rapunzl built this estimator so students and families can change one answer at a time and watch the SAI and the Pell Grant move.
Using This in Class
Teaching the FAFSA? Have students run the three example households above, then change one answer at a time, such as household size or AGI, and watch which number moves. Real family figures stay private, and the examples are enough for a lesson. Our Paying For College module covers the vocabulary and the types of aid, and the FAFSA guide post walks seniors through the form.
The Student Aid Index is a number, calculated from the FAFSA, that colleges use to measure a student's eligibility for federal student aid. It is not the amount a family has to pay. A college subtracts the SAI from its cost of attendance to find financial need. The SAI replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). It can be negative, down to -1,500, which signals higher need. In most cases the SAI appears on the FAFSA Submission Summary after the form is processed.
Possibly. No single income number decides it, and we can't tell any family where it will land. The SAI weighs income after allowances, the assets the FAFSA asks about, household size, and a dependent student's own income and savings, and colleges add their own aid rules. Federal Pell Grants have a hard line: an SAI of twice the maximum Pell Grant (14,790 on 2026-27 amounts) means no Pell Grant. Other aid works differently. Direct Unsubsidized Loans are not based on financial need, according to studentaid.gov, and colleges set their own scholarships. Put your own household into the estimator above for a Pell estimate, then ask each college about its aid.
There is no flat income limit. Pell depends on the SAI. ED has not announced the 2027-28 Pell amounts, so the dollars here use the 2026-27 figures as a placeholder: a maximum of $7,395, and no Pell Grant at an SAI of 14,790 or more, which is twice that maximum. Two income shortcuts sit on top of that. If AGI is above zero and at or below 175% of the 2025 federal poverty guideline for the household (225% for a single parent), the student gets the maximum whatever the formula says. For a household of four in the 48 contiguous states and DC the guideline is $32,150, so those lines are $56,263 and $72,338. Above them, Pell is $7,395 minus the SAI, rounded to the nearest $5, while the SAI is 6,655 or less. A household at or below a separate, higher income line, between 275% and 400% of the guideline depending on the family, can still get the $740 minimum even when the formula leaves less.
The FAFSA does not hand out a dollar amount. It produces your SAI, and each college builds an aid offer from that SAI, its cost of attendance and the other aid you qualify for. This estimator covers two pieces, the SAI and the scheduled Pell Grant for a full-time student for a full year. For a wider federal estimate, use the Federal Student Aid Estimator on studentaid.gov. For what you would pay at one school, use that college's net price calculator, which most colleges publish on their websites.
The 2027-28 SAI formula uses income, taxes paid, the assets the FAFSA asks about, household size, tax filing status, and, for a dependent student, the student's own income and savings. Income starts with AGI plus untaxed income, less education credits and similar offsets. The formula then subtracts allowances (income tax paid, payroll taxes, an income protection allowance that grows with household size, and a work-expense allowance) and counts a share of assets: 12% of a parent's net worth and 20% of a dependent student's. The 2027-28 worksheets have no line for the number of family members in college and no state tax allowance. The source is ED's SAI and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide.
No. This is an estimate built from the Department of Education's published 2027-28 formula, and Rapunzl is not part of the Department of Education. For official results, use the Federal Student Aid Estimator before you apply and the FAFSA form when you apply. The federal deadline for the 2027-28 FAFSA is June 30, 2028, and states and colleges may set earlier ones. Those dates are for the 2027-28 award year, so check studentaid.gov if you are applying for a different one.
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