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For many students, financial aid is the gateway to higher education. The grants, loans, and scholarships they receive largely determine which schools they can afford to attend — a process that begins with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
After submitting the FAFSA, which was significantly simplified beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year, students receive a FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) that spells out how much they may be eligible for in federal grants, loans, and work-study awards. Individual colleges also use FAFSA data to determine eligibility for institutional need-based aid and merit scholarships. (Learn more: College tuition: Big changes for the FAFSA)
As such, it’s important to review your FSS report carefully both for accuracy and for guidance in making an informed financial decision about the cost of your college degree.
“It’s critical to review this document to ensure accuracy and timely responses from the colleges and universities to which the student is planning to apply,” said Brock Jolly, a partner with Veritas Financial in Tysons Corner, Virginia, and founder of The College Funding Coach.
“If a number has been transposed or input incorrectly, it can make a huge difference in the result. We’ve seen families inadvertently leave a field blank or put a number into the wrong blank on the FAFSA, which can cause a significant impact on the result.”
The FAFSA Submission Summary, previously called the Student Aid Report, contains the following key pieces of information:
- Your estimated eligibility for federal financial aid.
- Your Student Aid Index (formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution, or EFC).
- Whether you have been selected for verification.
- Your Data Release Number.
- A summary of the inputs you provided on your FAFSA.
- List of the schools you sent your FAFSA to.
(Learn more: A primer on college financial aid)
How long does it take to receive my FSS?
You should receive your FSS within three weeks of submitting your FAFSA — it may take less than a week if you signed your form using your FSA ID and provided a valid email.
When your FAFSA Submission Summary is ready, you will receive an email notice to check your online account. You will need your FSA ID to log in electronically, the same ID you used to create your account.
If you did not provide a valid email address, your FSS will be mailed to you.
Your estimated eligibility for federal financial aid
Your FSS report will include your estimated eligibility for federal student aid, which may include:
- Federal Pell Grants, which do not need to be repaid.
- Federal Direct Loans, both subsidized and unsubsidized, which must be repaid.
- Federal work-study awards, which allow students to earn money for school through on- or off-campus part-time jobs.
But be aware: The award amounts listed on your FSS are merely estimates of the federal student aid you may be qualified for based on full-time enrollment at the college you choose. It is not guaranteed.
Ultimately, your school’s financial aid office will determine how much student aid you will receive, which may be either more or less than the amount listed on your FSS. A school that accepts you may include in its financial aid package additional merit scholarships and need-based grants as well as financial aid from your state.
“Some schools have and give a lot of money, while others do not,” said Jolly. “This can help a family navigate their course in terms of choosing a school that is the right fit, based upon a myriad of factors, such as size, geographic location, programs of study, extracurricular activities, and, just as importantly, the net price.”
Formerly called the Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, your Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number used by your college’s financial aid office to determine how much to award you in federal student aid.
The SAI, in effect, measures your ability to pay for college. A higher SAI number typically translates to less financial aid, while a lower SAI number may increase your eligibility for need-based aid.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the new SAI is calculated differently than its predecessor, the EFC.
For example, the new formula no longer factors in the number of family members a household may have in college at the same time. (Related: FAFSA changes could double some family college costs: Are you ready?)
It also allows a minimum SAI of negative $1,500 to give financial aid administrators more insight when making determinations for students with especially difficult financial challenges.
That said, the need-analysis formula remains unchanged from prior years. It is still the cost of attendance (COA) minus SAI and other financial assistance equals eligibility for need-based financial aid.
Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert and author of “How to Appeal for More College Financial Aid,” said students will see an asterisk next to their SAI if their FAFSA has been selected for verification by a federal processor.
Verification simply means that one of the schools you applied to needs to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate, a process intended to ensure that the students who need federal financial aid the most will receive it. (Related: College and your financial fit)
If your FAFSA was flagged for verification, you will likely be asked to submit additional documentation, including tax return transcripts and W-2 forms. (Jolly said it’s a good idea to stay organized and keep all documentation used to complete the FAFSA as a paper trail for later use.)
The college requesting verification will generally notify you through online portals or email and provide instructions on how to complete the process.
“If a school selects you for verification, they will let you know,” said Kantrowitz. “Some schools verify all students who have been accepted by them. Most don't.”
Your Data Release Number
Your FSS will also include a four-digit Data Release Number (DRN), which you will need if you allow your college or career school to change certain information on your FAFSA form on your behalf, such as your permanent mailing address, email address, and phone number.
The DRN is used to make corrections by phone to 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243). You don't need it if you are making corrections online at StudentAid.gov.
Be sure to keep your DRN private. Only give it to a financial aid administrator or authorized customer service representative.
A summary of the inputs you provided on your FAFSA
In this section, you can review all your responses to questions on the FAFSA, including personal identifiers, demographics, income, assets, and taxes. Because the schools you’ve applied to will use your FAFSA data to generate your financial aid package, it is important that the information you provided is accurate.
If you spot errors or need to update your application because your circumstances have changed (think dependency or marital status), you may do so online at fafsa.gov. The online FSS report includes a "Make a Correction" button on the top right of the “FAFSA Form Answers” page. (Related: Divorce and student aid)
You can also contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center and request a physical copy of your FSS. Once you receive your FSS in the mail, you can make your changes, sign it, and then send it back to the address listed on the form.
Alternatively, you can contact the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend directly, which may be able to make changes for you electronically.
The U.S. Department of Education notes that some information, including your personal savings, cannot be updated because it was required to be accurate as of the day you originally signed your FAFSA form. The government recommends that you speak with the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend to notify them of any significant change to your or your parents' income.
As they review their FSS report, Jolly said students should also verify that they answered the FAFSA questions correctly.
“It’s critically important that you understand the questions being asked, and, when reviewing the FAFSA Submission Summary, that you confirm that you’ve answered the questions being asked,” he said. “For example, the value of your assets may not include things like the value of your 401(k), equity in your primary home, or cash value inside of life insurance policies or annuity contracts. If a family has wealth in these assets, it shouldn’t be included for purposes of the FAFSA. When reviewing the summary, be sure that they are not included.”
School information
The FSS also includes a list of the schools you elected to send your FAFSA to.
You can select up to 20 schools to send your FAFSA to initially. To add more, you must wait for those colleges to receive your FAFSA and then return to your FAFSA form and delete some of those schools to make room for more.
The FSS includes not only the names of the schools to which you’ve elected to send your FAFSA, but also their associated graduation, retention, and transfer rates. It will also highlight the average annual cost, median debt upon completion, and percentage of students at that school who have defaulted on their loans. The college-specific data is intended to help students make choices that help minimize their debt upon graduation. (Learn more: Is student debt worth it? A cost-benefit analysis of college)
Next Steps
Finally, your FSS will provide detailed instructions on any steps you should take next. That may include correcting errors on your FAFSA form, making sure your schools have everything from you that they need, and staying watchful for aid-related communications from your schools.
You should also explore any federal tax credits and deductions that may help make college more affordable. Those include the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, and tax deductions for the interest paid on student loans.1,2
Conclusion
The FAFSA Submission Summary, or FSS, is the key to unlocking federal and state financial aid, as well as grants and scholarships from the colleges to which you’ve applied.
Students can help maximize the amount of aid they ultimately receive by reviewing their FSS report carefully and correcting any mistakes they may find.
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1 Internal Revenue Service, “Education Credits – AOTC and LLC,” Oct. 6, 2023.
2 Internal Revenue Service, “Topic No. 456, Student Loan Interest,“ Nov. 2, 2023.