My SAI is around $10k, which I believe means how much my family can comfortably contribute. Financial need is cost of attendance minus SAI. Generally speaking, I should get aid with this SAI number, no?
But as an OOS, I got $0 in aid from UWMadison as an incoming freshman, which I guess falls into the “it is what it is” category.
Anything I can contact the financial aid office about without sounding too “unsatisfied”?
AFAIK, U Wisconsin Madison primarily gives need based aid only to OOS students who qualify for a Pell grant (where they meet full need thru the banner program) https://financialaid.wisc.edu/types-of-aid/banner/
Did you run Wisconsin’s NPC? Meadow - Net Price Calculator
With an SAI of $10K, I assume Wisconsin is far from affordable. Do you have any affordable acceptances?
At a high level, part of the point of most OOS programs is they are supposed to provide enough in net tuition to subsidize the in-state kids. So, unfortunately, it is common for high need OOS kids to get little or no need-based aid, and the university’s attitude is pay if you can, and if not we will find someone else who can.
Your SAI is not the amount you should plan to pay to attend college. If you translate that into dollars, it should be viewed as the MINIMUM your family will be expected to pay. Wisconsin does not guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. In addition, you are OOS, and as a public university, their first obligation is to provide funding to to instate students whose families pay taxes to support these public universities.
I hope you have an affordable acceptance to attend…perhaps a public university in your own state.
Each college determines how it gives financial aid; the resulting net price is not necessarily the same as the SAI number.
Most state universities do not give good financial aid to out-of-state students.
Did you use the net price calculator linked from https://financialaid.wisc.edu/cost-of-attendance/ before applying? A test run says that an out-of-state student with SAI of 10,000 will get $5,000 in need-based grants for a net price of $56,386.
You are out of state.
U of WIsconsin is supported, in part, by the state government. They are there to support Wisconsin residents, not OOS residents.
So you were unlikely to get need aid - at least a significant amount.
Hopefully you applied to an affordable in state or our out of state school known for merit.
I don’t want to say Wisconsin was a wasted app because we do read stories of huge merit scholarships (very infrequently) - but it was a hail mary app.
Hopefully you applied to the local regional college or state flagship in your state that likely has a program for low income. Or an OOS school with auto merit that can get your costs to a reasonable level.
Good luck.
Are you from Minnesota?
As mentioned above, your SAI is the minimum amount your family is expected to pay if the college were to meet your need. Only about 85 colleges in the country (out of ~3,700) “meet need”. Others simply provide you with merit aid or nothing, your ability to afford the university is not their problem. However, among universities that don’t meet need, public universities provide a discounted cost of attendance to their residents’ children and may offer additional scholarships to applicants whose stats are well above their average (“merit aid”) regardless of financial need. Finally, some universities offer merit aid to instate and OOS applicants.
The SAI does indicate whether you qualify for a Pell Grant and all students can get a federal loan for 5.5k - that should appear in your GA package.
UWisconsin doesn’t meet need even for its own residents however their primary responsibility is to Wisconsin kids, then MN applicants through the reciprocity agreement. So those would have priority.
OOS students are cash cows - kids who are willing to pay 55k because UW their instate universities don’t offer what UW does or because they don’t like their instate choices.
So, to summarize, if your SAI is 10k
Do you have affordable choices?
If not, there are some excellent universities that have some places left as well as FA: Gustavus Adolphus, Marquette…
If you want a large university with sports I can look that up on the list, too.
How did you get $5000? The calculator asks for income and cash savings along with SAI, but I think those numbers are all intertwined.
Yep, the $10000 is what your family may feel comfortable contributing, but schools can’t make everyone comfortable. Our EFC (prior version of SAI) was $0, and we paid a lot more than $0 for 2 kids going to school in the same year (one public OOS, one private). For different reasons, neither got need based aid from their schools (but did get merit and athletic/talent scholarships).
If everyone only had to pay their EFC/SAI, kids could have picked any college they wanted to, and my kids would have picked colleges in California because that’s what they really wanted. Nope.
Now there are benefits to having a low EFC/SAI like subsidized loans, work study, some grants like SEOG or a state need based grant. Schools can also give the SEOG grants to students they feel are the most needy, or at a state school can reserve those funds for only instate students.
Good luck to you.
@kelsmom would this student get a partial Pell Grant?
No clue. Things have changed … from the Department of Education:
*** As a reminder, the FAFSA Simplification Actchanged the process for determining the amount of a student’s Scheduled Pell Grant award. The Department will no longer publish a Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedule for use in determining a student’s Pell Grant Scheduled Award for the award year. Instead, each student’s Scheduled Award is one of the following:
A Maximum Pell Grant Award (Max Pell)
Student Aid Index (SAI)-calculated Pell Grant, determined by subtracting the student’s SAI from the annual published maximum Pell Grant amount
A Minimum Pell Grant Award (Min Pell)
Maximum and Minimum Pell Grant eligibility are determined based on tax filing requirements, family size and composition (i.e., single parent or non-single parent), Federal poverty guidelines, and state of residence. If a student qualifies for a Maximum Pell Grant, the SAI is not used to determine the amount of that grant. An SAI-calculated Pell Grant is determined by subtracting the student’s calculated SAI from the annual published maximum Pell Grant amount, then rounding to the nearest $5. If the SAI-calculated Pell Grant is less than the published minimum Pell Grant amount, the student is ineligible for an SAI-calculated Pell Grant. However, the student may still be eligible for Min Pell if they meet the minimum Pell Grant eligibility***
How that translates into a particular grant is beyond me, since I’m not working directly with it now.
That doesn’t sound simplified at all🙄
That’s incredibly frustrating and I’m sure many others students make the same assumption about SAI.
I hope you have some good alternative options. If you were accepted by Wisconsin OOS, you’re obviously an accomplished student.
Maybe it’s $5500, not $5000 - and the loan which many count as aid (unfortunately).
Maybe - no idea.
The maximum Federal Pell Grant award is $7,395 for the 2024–25 award year (July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025)
It would seem if the student’s SAI is $10,000, he wouldn’t qualify for a Pell grant ($7395-$10000=($2605))
Families have always been confused about the calculated number formerly called Expected Family Contribution and now called Student Aid Index. The only way around that is for everyone to read the definition. From the Federal Student Aid website:
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an eligibility index number that your college’s or career school’s financial aid office uses to determine how much federal student aid you would receive if you attended the school.
This number results from the financial information you and your contributor(s)provide on your FAFSA® form.
This number is not a dollar amount of aid eligibility or what your family is expected to provide. A negative SAI indicates the student has a higher financial need. Learn how the SAI is calculated.
The college or career school will determine your financial need by subtracting your SAI from the cost of attendance. Learn more about how financial aid is calculated.*
Oh yeah true. There is a $5500 federal loan that counts as aid. Another school gave me an “aid” package of $13k, but when looking inside, it’s all loans and work study.
Do you have any affordable school (ie., roughly 10k for the net cost listed)?
This isn’t how it works any more.
Regardless, if OP did qualify for a partial Pell
Grant, UW Madison’s financial offer (and the offers from other schools) would have reflected that (assuming OP filed FAFSA.)
I think that it would help those of us who are commenting if we had more complete information. I feel like we do not understand the full picture here (or at least I don’t).
Are you a US citizen or permanent resident? If so, do you have in-state status in some specific state and which one?
What universities have you been accepted to, and what would be the total cost of attendance for each one after aid (if you have been offered financial aid)?
What can your parents afford to pay without taking on any loans?
I saw on another thread that you are intending to be a neuroscience major. Is this still the plan? If so, then some form of graduate school is a possibility, and if “some form of graduate school” ends up being a master’s degree (or MD) there is likely to be some additional associated cost.
Assuming that you are neither a Wisconsin nor Minnesota resident, no financial aid at all from the University of Wisconsin is not a surprise. It is a very good university, but as a publicly funded state university it is funded by residents of Wisconsin and it is not a surprise for it to fail to give financial aid to an out of state student.
I guess that the big question here is whether you have an affordable acceptance in hand.