FSA Resolves Asset Calculation Issue Affecting 2025–26 and 2026–27 FAFSA Results

Federal Student Aid (FSA) identified and fixed a logic issue affecting how assets were included in the Student Aid Index (SAI) for certain 2025–26 and 2026–27 FAFSA applications.

What Caused the Issue

The problem occurred only when all of the following were true:

1. The FAFSA had multiple contributors, and
2. One contributor manually entered income, while
3. Another contributor imported income from the IRS, and
4. The combined AGI was near or across the asset-inclusion threshold.

For this subset, asset values were sometimes not counted in the SAI, causing:

• Incorrect SAI values in some cases
• Small Pell Grant calculation errors in a minority of cases

Scope of Impact

• ~20,000 affected applicants for 2025–26
• ~2,700 affected applicants for 2026–27
• Most SAI impacts were minor
• Only 20% of those with changed SAI values had any Pell impact
• Pell impacts were small dollar amounts

Fix Implemented

• FSA corrected the issue on Nov. 9, 2025.
• All FAFSAs submitted on or after Nov. 9 calculate assets correctly.

How FSA Is Handling 2025–26 Applications

2025–26 ISIRs will not be reprocessed due to:

• Small financial impact
• Issue being on FSA’s side
• Additional burden reprocessing would place on schools

What Schools Should Know

• Any corrections submitted on or after Nov. 9 (even unrelated to assets) will use the corrected logic and could result in a new SAI and revised Pell eligibility.
• Schools may initiate a correction if they believe asset treatment was inaccurate and want to adjust or redisburse aid.
  • FSA expects these cases to be rare and small in impact.

How FSA Is Handling 2026–27 Applications

• FSA reprocessed all affected 2026–27 records under Reject Code 16: “Adjusted SAI Calculation.”
• Impact of reprocessing:
  • 2,700 students received revised SAIs
  • 600 students had estimated Pell changes
  • Average SAI shift: approx. 1,000
  • Average Pell shift: approx. $80
• Students will be emailed directly if their SAI or estimated Pell changed.

SOURCE: (APP-25-28) Resolution of Asset Logic Issue Affecting 2025-26 and 2026-27 FAFSA forms