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Understanding the FAFSA Student Aid Report

The Student Aid Report (SAR) is the output document produced once all information on a completed FAFSA is processed by the federal government. The SAR provides the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) produced under the federal formula, as well as any assumptions the system may have made during processing. The SAR document also summarizes all of the information that was supplied by the student and used in figuring the EFC, as well as instructions on how to make corrections to the data, should such corrections be necessary.

In some instances, the SAR may indicate that the FAFSA was unable to be processed due to missing data, an invalid Social Security number or lack of required signatures (electronic or written). When such “reject codes” appear, a student must correct the missing or incorrect information in order for an EFC to be processed and a full SAR generated.

The information that is reported in the SAR is also sent to the colleges the student lists on his/her FAFSA. Based on the resulting EFC, a college can determine a student's eligibility for federal, and often state, grant assistance. They use this information to develop a financial aid package for the student. Depending on whether or not the college uses an institutional methodology to determine institutional need-based financial aid eligibility, this same information also may be used to calculate how much of the college's own need-based grants and/or scholarships will be included in the student's financial aid package. (Click here for more on the use of an institutional methodology.) In addition to the EFC information and need-based aid considerations, a college that offers merit-based aid will also include any merit-based aid they plan to offer a student when devising the total financial aid package. Additional loans (student and/or parent) may round out the financial aid package, or a college may leave the difference between the cost of attendance and the financial assistance being offered as “unmet financial need.”