FAFSA Submission Summary: SAI Meaning, Estimates and Verification

Your Student Aid Index (SAI) runs from -1,500 to 999,999, and the lower it is, the more need-based aid you qualify for. For 2026-27, a full-time undergraduate's Pell Grant starts at $7,395 minus the SAI, so an SAI of zero or below gets the full $7,395 and an SAI of $14,790 or more gets no Pell. An asterisk (*) next to the SAI means you were selected for verification: get your school's document list today and send everything before its deadline, because your aid waits until the school has every document it requested.

What the SAI on your summary means

The SAI is the index schools plug into their aid formulas, neither the amount your family pays nor an amount of aid. For Pell, the school subtracts it from the maximum award and rounds to the nearest $5, counting any SAI below zero as zero. For work-study, FSEOG grants and Direct Subsidized Loans, your financial need is the school's cost of attendance minus your SAI minus other aid you receive.

Your 2026-27 SAI	Pell Grant for a full-time year
-1,500 to 0	$7,395
2,000	$5,395
5,000	$2,395
6,655	$740
Above 6,655 and under 14,790	$740 minimum Pell if family income qualifies, otherwise $0
14,790 or more	$0

Part-time enrollment scales the award down. The FAFSA assigns exactly -1,500 when a dependent student's parents, or an independent student and spouse, had no obligation to file a federal tax return. On a 2027-28 summary, the same rules apply to that year's maximum Pell, which federal law calls for by February 1, 2027. Check your number in our Pell Grant calculator; the income tests are in our Pell eligibility guide.

Estimated SAI vs. the official SAI

You see the SAI up to three times; schools use the one on your summary:

Federal Student Aid Estimator at studentaid.gov/aid-estimator: an early estimate before you file.
FAFSA confirmation page: an estimated SAI and estimated Pell eligibility right after you submit.
FAFSA Submission Summary: your confirmed, official SAI on the Eligibility Overview tab. Most forms process immediately; some take one to three days.

The official SAI moves when the data behind it changes, through a correction from you or a contributor, a fix found in verification, or a school's special-circumstances adjustment. Each change brings you a new summary and your school a new record.

Where the verification flag shows up

Look for an asterisk (*) next to the SAI and a note under the Next Steps tab. Selection is routine: some applications are picked at random, and some schools verify everyone. Your school's copy of the record, the ISIR, carries a tracking group that sets what you prove.

Group	What you prove	Usual documents
V1, Standard	Tax filers: AGI, work income, tax paid, untaxed IRA and pension money, IRA deductions, tax-exempt interest, education credits, exempt foreign income. Non-filers: work income. Everyone: family size.	Verification worksheet, plus tax documents for figures typed in by hand
V4, Custom	Identity	Unexpired government-issued photo ID
V5, Aggregate	V1 items plus identity	Both

The 2027-28 groups, published October 23, 2026, are identical.

What to send

Send what your school's list names:

Verification worksheet. The school's own form, listing each family member's name, age and relationship to you, signed by you and, for a dependent student, one parent.
Tax figures that came from the IRS. Transferred and unchanged, they already count as verified and need no transcript.
Tax figures typed in by hand, and foreign income exempt from U.S. tax: a free IRS tax return transcript or a signed copy of the return with schedules, for tax year 2024 on a 2026-27 FAFSA and 2025 on a 2027-28 FAFSA. A signature on Form 8879, the e-file authorization, fails; a paid preparer's name and PTIN on the return passes. For an IRA or pension rollover, add a signed statement of the amount.
Non-filers. A signed statement that you had no obligation to file, listing your sources and amounts of income, plus a W-2 from every job. For a lost W-2, request a duplicate from the employer; if it will arrive too late, the school can accept a signed statement of the amount, employer and reason.
Identity (V4, V5). Show an unexpired government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license or passport, to a school official in person. Alternatives: an online check by a service meeting the federal NIST IAL2 standard that reports to your school, or, if the school decides you are unable to come in, an in-person notary's acknowledgment of your ID copy or a video call with aid staff. College IDs, military IDs and online notaries are rejected.

What to do today

Open your summary. Log in at StudentAid.gov, open the FAFSA Submission Summary from your Dashboard, and note the SAI, any asterisk and every Next Steps item. Only the student's account opens it.
Get the school's list. Check the school's student portal and email. Asterisk but no request? Call the aid office with the script below.
Order transcripts if the list names one. Your IRS Individual Online Account gives a real-time transcript through the Get Transcript page; a mailed transcript, ordered online or at 800-908-9946, arrives in 5 to 10 calendar days.
Book the ID check if you are in V4 or V5. The school has to report your identity result within 60 days of its first request, so do it first.
Sign, submit everything together and keep copies. Signatures count only if collected before the verification deadline.

What happens if you miss the deadline

Missing the deadlines stops your federal aid for the year:

The school pays no more FSEOG, ends work-study employment and makes no further Direct Loans, subsidized, unsubsidized or PLUS. FSEOG already paid that year gets repaid.
Pell has a federal cutoff. Outside groups V4 and V5, 2026-27 documents must reach the school by the earlier of 120 days after your last day of enrollment or September 18, 2027. Miss it and you lose that year's Pell and return any Pell already paid.
Inside that window, a school can still accept late documents at its discretion.

Outside group V5, a school not on heightened cash monitoring 2 (HCM2) or reimbursement can pay one Pell and FSEOG installment for the first payment period before verification ends; ask whether yours does if tuition is due.

How to fix a wrong FAFSA

Online: select Make a Correction on the FAFSA Form Answers tab to add a missing signature or consent and approval, fix typos, add or remove schools, or change your Direct Unsubsidized Loan Only answer (answer No to be considered for all aid). A parent or spouse corrects only their own sections.
Through the school: numbers from an amended tax return, and a big change in your family's finances.
Deadlines: 2026-27 corrections must reach the processor by September 11, 2027; the 2026-27 FAFSA closes June 30, 2027.
During verification: any changed non-dollar item and any dollar item off by $25 or more go back through the system. The school's written policy says whether its office or you submit them.

Where it splits

If your Dashboard shows Action Required or your summary shows no SAI: the form needs a fix, such as a missing signature or a contributor's consent and approval, and a rejected summary names it. Federal aid requires every contributor's consent to share IRS tax data, so have that person log in and finish today.
If your family's income dropped after the tax year the FAFSA uses: finish verification first, because the school has to complete it before adjusting your data, then request a special circumstances review. The aid office's decision is final, with no federal appeal.
If a parent or spouse on the form lives abroad out of normal contact, or cannot be located: tell the aid office, which can skip verifying that person's information. With no parent contact at all, see the FAFSA without parent contact.

Your leverage

The written list. Under 34 CFR 668.53 the school must explain, in a timely manner, the documents needed, your responsibilities, the deadlines and the consequences.
An end point. Once your documents confirm or correct each item and the school holds a valid summary or ISIR, verification is complete, and federal guidance calls further fact-finding unnecessary unless the school has reason to doubt your documents.
A complaint channel. If a school sits on a complete file, file at the FSA Feedback Center, which takes complaints about how schools run federal aid. For help with the form, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243.

Script for the aid office

"Hi, I'm [name], student ID [number]. My [2026-27 / 2027-28] FAFSA Submission Summary shows I was selected for verification. Please send your list of required documents, your deadline and how to submit them. Can you tell from my ISIR whether each contributor's tax information transferred from the IRS? Which verification group am I in, and if it's V4 or V5, which identity options do you offer? Please confirm by email when my file is complete."

Today

Open your FAFSA Submission Summary and note the SAI and every Next Steps item.
Find your school's verification list and order any IRS transcript it names.
Book the ID check if you are in V4 or V5, then sign and submit everything together.

Next, the school checks your documents against your FAFSA and sends any corrections through. If your SAI changes, you get an updated summary and the school tells you how your aid changes; then it releases payment.