FAFSA SAI & Pell Grant calculator
Estimate the 2027–28 Student Aid Index and Pell Grant from the official federal formula, for dependent and independent students.
Put this calculator on your site
Get it as a ready-made Gravity Forms template. Import it, match your colors, publish.
- Import-ready form file
- Step-by-step build guide
- Works with any theme
How it's calculated
The FAFSA turns a family’s 2025 tax-year income and current assets into a Student Aid Index using one of three federal formulas. Formula A covers dependent students: the parents’ income, minus taxes paid, payroll taxes, an income protection allowance for the family size and an employment allowance, plus 12% of their net assets, is run through a progressive table that takes 22% to 47%. The student adds half of their income after taxes and a $12,220 allowance and 20% of their assets. Formula B covers independent students without children, and Formula C independent students with children, whose larger living allowances come from family-size tables. Retirement accounts and the family home never count. The SAI can go as low as −1,500. Separately, a family that didn’t file taxes, or whose AGI is at or below 175% of the federal poverty guideline (225% for a single parent), gets the maximum Pell Grant whatever the SAI. Otherwise the Pell Grant is the maximum award minus the SAI, rounded to the nearest $5, and families just above the limit can still get the $740 minimum. The figures and tables come from the Department of Education’s 2027–28 SAI and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide; the official result is the one on your FAFSA Submission Summary.
What is the Student Aid Index (SAI)?
The SAI is the number the FAFSA produces to measure a family’s ability to pay for college. It replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) in 2024–25. It runs from −1,500 to 999,999, and the lower it is, the more need-based aid a student can get. It isn’t a bill: schools subtract it from their cost of attendance to work out financial need.
How much Pell Grant will I get?
For 2027–28 the estimate uses a $7,395 maximum and a $740 minimum, the 2026–27 amounts, until the Department of Education publishes new ones. With an SAI of 0 or less, the grant is the full $7,395. Above that, it is $7,395 minus the SAI, rounded to the nearest $5, down to $740. That is a full-time, full-year amount; part-time enrollment gets less.
Who qualifies for the maximum Pell Grant?
A dependent student whose parents didn’t file a 2025 federal tax return, or whose parents’ AGI is at or below 175% of the federal poverty guideline for their family size and state (225% for a single parent). For a family of four in the lower 48 states that is $56,263, or $72,338 for a single parent. Independent students follow the same rule using their own income.
What SAI makes you ineligible for a Pell Grant?
Anyone with an SAI of twice the maximum award or more, $14,790 for 2026–27, can’t get a Pell Grant. Between $6,655 and $14,790, a student only gets the $740 minimum if the family’s AGI is within the minimum-Pell limit: 275% of the poverty guideline for married parents, 325% for a single parent, and up to 400% for an independent single parent.
Can the SAI be negative?
Yes, down to −1,500. A negative SAI signals more need than a zero, and some schools use it when packaging their own aid. A family that qualifies for the maximum Pell Grant through its income keeps a negative SAI if the formula produces one, and any positive SAI is set to 0.
Does having more than one child in college lower the SAI?
Not any more. Since 2024–25 the federal formula no longer divides the parents’ contribution by the number of children in college, so each sibling gets the same SAI. Some private colleges still adjust for it in their own aid formulas.
Do retirement accounts, home equity or a family business count?
Retirement accounts (401(k), IRA, pensions) and the home you live in never count. Since 2024–25, the net worth of a family business or farm counts, whatever its size, scaled down on a sliding table: 40% of the first $180,000.
Is this an official FAFSA result?
No. It runs the published 2027–28 federal formula on the numbers you enter. Two edge cases are simplified: IRA and pension rollovers are netted for the household rather than per person, and the Special Rule for children of fallen service members and public safety officers isn’t modeled. Your official SAI is on the FAFSA Submission Summary after you file at studentaid.gov, and each school decides the final aid package.
Results are estimates for informational purposes only and are not financial, medical or legal advice.