The Student Aid Report (SAR) has been replaced with the FAFSA Submission Summary. The new report will provide students and families with an overview of their responses as well as their financial aid eligibility.
Unlike the SAR, which was very general, the FAFSA Submission Summary provides detailed information on your estimated aid packages and college costs. This information will help you make a more informed college decision.
What is the FAFSA Submission Summary?
The FAFSA Submission Summary is a document that lists your answers to the questions on the FAFSA, as well as an estimate of your eligibility for federal student aid. It is not, however, a financial aid package. Those will come directly from the schools that you have applied to.How Do I Get My FAFSA Submission Summary?
If you complete the FAFSA electronically, you can expect your FAFSA Submission Summary to arrive within a few days of completing the form. However, if you file the paper FAFSA, the Summary will be delivered via mail in three to four weeks.What Information is Included in the FAFSA Summary?
Once your FAFSA has been processed, you can view your FAFSA Submission Summary. The summary will comprehensively examine your FAFSA answers and financial aid eligibility in multiple sections. Each section has its dedicated tab on the electronic version:Eligibility Overview
This portion of the FAFSA Submission Summary will give you estimates of your financial aid eligibility. In some cases, you will see exact figures for the Pell Grant or Federal Loans. These estimates are determined by the answers to the FAFSA you recently submitted. You will also be able to view the Student Aid Index (SAI), formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution. Schools use this eligibility index number to determine how much aid they should include in a student's financial aid package. Remember that the financial aid estimates you see in this tab are just that: estimates. Final figures will be mailed or emailed directly from the schools you apply to.FAFSA Form Answers
The FAFSA Submission Summary also reviews the answers you provided on the form. From the Summary, you will be able to edit individual answers should they change or need to be updated.School Information
As stated earlier, the goal of the new FAFSA was to increase transparency into the cost of attending college. With that, the FAFSA Submission Summary contains information on college costs. You can view each institution to which you sent your FAFSA data and compare the cost of attending and average debt upon graduation, as well as each institution's graduation, retention, and transfer rates.Next Steps
Finally, the FAFSA Submission Summary provides “Next Steps” for you to complete. These include: • Review your FAFSA answers to see if you need to make any corrections. • Confirm with each college that they have everything they need to make a financial aid decision (some schools require a supplemental financial aid form in addition to the FAFSA). • Look for aid-related communications from each institution. Your Next Steps tab may look different from your friends’ tabs. This section is tailored to you and your financial aid journey, like the other tabs.You Might Also Like
Kathryn Knight Randolph
Associate Content Editor
Kathryn Knight Randolph is the Associate Content Editor at Fastweb. She has 17 years of higher education experience, working first as an Admissions Officer at DePauw University before joining Fastweb. In b...
