Author: Paul Martin

This calculator is designed to help you explore the impact of colleges’ need-based financial aid policies on your financial aid offers and out-of-pocket cost.

To use this calculator, it’s important to understand two fundamental concepts in need-based financial aid: 1) demonstrated need and 2) percent of demonstrated need met.

What is Demonstrated Need?

Your demonstrated need is the amount of need-based financial aid you may be eligible for given to two factors:

1. A college’s cost of attendance.
2. Your Student Aid Index (SAI) as calculated by either FAFSA or CSS Profile.

Colleges that only require FAFSA use the FAFSA Student Aid Index (SAI) to measure a family’s ability to pay and determine the student’s eligibility for institutional need-based aid. Colleges that require the CSS Profile calculate a custom Student Aid Index (SAI) using that application to measure a family’s ability to pay and determine the student’s eligibility for institutional need-based aid.

Every college determines your demonstrated need, or financial aid eligibility, at their college using this fundamental equation:

So, your demonstrated need is the remaining money needed to pay for college after deducting your Student Aid Index, or the amount you are able to pay according to the respective financial aid application.

What is the Percent of Demonstrated Need Met?

While you may have a certain amount of demonstrated need at a college, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will receive a financial aid package to equal that need. Many colleges don’t have the ability to provide a financial aid package that can meet a student’s full need. Luckily, colleges publish data on a yearly basis that tell you what percent of demonstrated need they meet on average. You can know ahead of time just how generous a college is with their need-based financial aid offers.

Let’s take an example. Butler University meets 70% of demonstrated need on average. If your FAFSA SAI is equal to $22,000, given their cost of attendance of $62,700, your demonstrated need is equal to $40,700 ($62,700 – $22,000). However, because, on average, Bulter offers a financial aid package that meets 70% of that need, you should expect a financial aid offer of about $28,500 (70% of $40,700). This leaves you with a gap in the financial aid offer of $12,200, which is an additional out-of-pocket cost beyond your Student Aid Index of $22,000.

It’s essential to understand which colleges “gap” your financial aid, and by how much, so that you can plan for these additional costs. You can use this calculator to explore colleges’ financial aid policies and their impact on your expected ability to pay.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This calculator has been updated as of February 1, 2024, to incorporate the adjustment for inflation to the Student Aid Index based on the Federal Student Aid’s Final SAI Guide released on January 30, 2024.

What is the Student Aid Index?

For the financial aid award year 2024-25, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is making several changes to determine a dependent student’s aid eligibility, starting with the calculation of a family’s ability to pay for college.

The new Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as the calculated amount a family is able to pay for college for a given year. Colleges will use SAI in place of EFC in the fundamental equation to determine need-based financial aid eligibility.

Cost of Attendance – Student Aid Index = Financial Need

Your financial need is the same as your need-based financial aid eligibility, but rules on federal student aid plus a college’s own institutional need-based financial aid policies determine your financial aid package.

How is the Student Aid Index calculated?

Your family size, parent’s marital status and state of residence, along with four primary financial inputs – 1) Parent 2022 Income, 2) Parent Assets as of filing date, 3) Student 2022 Income, 4) Student Assets as of filing date – will still determine your SAI, or family’s ability to pay. One significant change is the number of students in college will no longer be used in the SAI formula.

Parent Income

FAFSA will rely on 2022 federal tax returns for all parent income, eliminating the reporting of any non-taxed income not reported on your returns. Notably, for parents making pre-tax contributions to employer retirement plans, these contributions amount will no longer count as part of parent income. There will also be a first step to determine whether your student qualifies for an SAI = $0 and the maximum Pell Grant. If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is below a multiple of the Federal Poverty Level income for your state and family size, then your student’s SAI = $0. And, if a parent is not required to file federal tax returns, then SAI = -$1,500. This step is incorporated as part of this calculator.

Parent Assets

FAFSA will continue to include all assets a parent owns outside of retirement accounts, a primary home, and life insurance policies. These include checking, savings, CDs, brokerage accounts, 529 or college savings plans, and equity value of second properties.

Two new amounts will be counted as parent assets for the calculation of SAI.

1. Child support received. A parent needs to report any child support received in 2022 as an asset at the time of application. It was previously reported as non-taxed income.
2. Net worth of business or farm. In prior-year applications, if your business or farm employed less than 100 full-time employees, you were not required to report its net worth. Going forward, the net worth of a business or farm of any size will be reported as a parent asset.

Student Income

FAFSA will provide income protection for students equal to $11,130. In other words, there will be no expected contribution from student income if 2022 is $11,130 or less. For every dollar over this amount, the contribution rate is 50%. Note, if the student qualifies for SAI = $0 based on their parent’s AGI, then any student earnings will not push the SAI over $0.

Student Assets

All assets held by the student outside of retirement are reported. These could include checking, savings, CDs, and brokerage accounts for most students. 529 or college savings plans owned by the student are always reported as a parent asset. The contribution rate for student assets is 20% of every dollar. Again, if the student qualifies for SAI = $0 based on their parent’s AGI, then any assets held by the student will not push the SAI over $0.

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2024-25 Student Aid Index Calculator

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This calculator has been updated as of February 1, 2024, to incorporate the adjustment for inflation to the Student Aid Index based on the Federal Student Aid’s Final SAI Guide released on January 30, 2024.

To calculate your Student Aid Index, you can use values from your parent’s 2022 tax returns and current value of parent and student assets.

FAFSA and CSS Profile have different rules on what needs to be reported in the investment lines of their applications. Use this calculator to get the correct total to report for each application.

NOTE: The new 2024-25 FAFSA rules for reporting 529 Plans require you to only report 529 Plan amounts for the student applicant. You should no longer include 529 Plans amounts for other members of the family.

For all amounts, report balances or values on the date of filing.

The FAFSA EFC Estimator gives you an estimate of your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for colleges that use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to award need-based financial aid for the 2023-24 school year. This interactive tool is for a dependent student eligible to submit the FAFSA.

I created the FAFSA EFC Estimator so that in 3 steps you can understand if you may qualify for need-based financial aid. The easy-to-use inputs also allow you to run scenarios for changes in income or assets. Importantly, it will help you see how each area of your finances – income versus assets – impacts your EFC.

For a more detailed FAFSA EFC, or to calculate the EFC as determined by the CSS Profile, you can use College Board’s EFC Calculator.

*If Parent Taxed Income or AGI is less than $50,000, the EFC Estimator assumes the student qualifies for the Simplified Needs Test, which would exclude any assets you report on the FAFSA from the EFC calculation. To qualify for the Simplified Needs Test, you must meet additional criteria beyond an income below $50,000. You can review those criteria here.