Student Aid Index Modeling Tool
NASFAA has discontinued its Student Aid Index Modeling Tool in light of the fact that the Department of Education has cleared its ISIR backlog and institutions now have access to actual 2024-25 ISIR data and official SAIs. The Modeling Tool was intended to estimate SAIs trends based on prior year data and, due to that limitation, had to make several assumptions that skewed individual SAIs from what would be calculated based on 2024-25 data. As such, we do not feel the Modeling Tool adds value for members over what they can do with their own systems and their actual 2024-25 data.
NASFAA's Student Aid Index Modeling Tool was intended to allow institutions to model how the recent changes to the Federal Methodology (FM) Expected Family Contribution (EFC) formula — which has been renamed the Student Aid Index (SAI) and was fully implemented for the 2024-25 award year — impacts student need and, consequently, financial aid budgets on their campuses. The model will also estimated the student's Pell Grant award under the provisions of the FAFSA Simplification Act.
Questions
Questions regarding the model may be directed to NASFAA's Research Department at [email protected]. Please note, NASFAA is unable to assist individual institutions in interpreting their results.
Acknowledgments
This work is generously sponsored by a grant from Strada Education Foundation.
NASFAA thanks Alisa Federico Cunningham for her extensive work in developing, testing, and finalizing this model and NASFAA's FAFSA Simplification Implementation Working Group for their feedback, testing, and overall input on this model throughout its development. We also extend our thanks to all the institutions that participated in the testing of this model and provided vital feedback.
Publication Date: 4/19/2024