Each college looks at (weighs) assets and equity differently, that’s why you need to run the NPC for each and every college.
They use a financial aid form called CSS to determine your financial aid and each college has their own formula.
The SAI is federal aid only: 5.5k federal loans and any Pell grant ($7,395), which you get no matter what the college decides to give you -only about 85 out of 3,500 colleges “meet need”, meaning the others may “gap” applicants (there’s -an often wide- gap between what they know you can pay and what you would have to pay if you attended their college. It often is a soft rejection.)
If the college is full need with no loans for SAI 0, it means you get a full ride without loans (all is in scholarship/grant and work-study) but you may choose to take the 5.5k and bank them, or use them on top of your FA award.
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