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A few days after you submit the FAFSA, you get a FAFSA Submission Summary — the document that used to be called the Student Aid Report (SAR). It's your receipt, your first look at your numbers, and your chance to catch errors. Here's how to read it.
Your Student Aid Index (SAI)
The headline number — your SAI — estimates what your family can contribute and drives how much aid you qualify for. A lower (or negative) SAI means more need-based aid. This is the figure colleges use to build your package.
A summary of everything you reported
The FSS lists the income, family, and school information you (and your contributors) entered. Read it carefully — this is your chance to catch a typo or wrong number before it affects your aid.
Your next steps and any flags
It tells you what to do next, and whether your FAFSA was selected for verification (a routine check where the school confirms your information). Being selected isn't a problem — it just means a few extra documents.
Estimated federal aid eligibility
The summary gives a rough sense of your eligibility for the Pell Grant and federal loans, so you have a ballpark before official offers arrive from each school.
The Summary is not your aid offer
The FSS estimates your eligibility, but it isn't money. Each college uses your FAFSA data to build its own financial aid offer, which arrives later. Treat the Summary as a preview and a chance to fix mistakes — not the final word on what you'll pay.
Read it as soon as it arrives
The FSS shows up in your StudentAid.gov account (and by email) a few days after you submit. Don't ignore it — it's your receipt and your first look at your numbers.
Check every figure against reality
Compare the income and asset numbers to your actual tax return and accounts. A misplaced digit can wreck your SAI. If something is wrong, log back in and make a correction.
Handle verification quickly if you're selected
If your FAFSA was flagged for verification, your colleges will ask for documents (tax transcripts, a verification worksheet). Respond fast — aid can be held until it's done.
Make corrections through the FAFSA, not the summary
The FSS is a report, not an editor. To fix anything, log back into your FAFSA, make the change, and a new summary will be generated.
The Submission Summary exists so you can catch a wrong number before it shrinks your aid. Families who never open it can lose grants to a typo they'd have spotted in two minutes. Open it, check it, fix it.
Understand your numbers: decode your Student Aid Index, handle verification, and see what counts as a FAFSA asset.