After you submit your FAFSA® form and it's processed by the federal government, your Submission Summary will be generated. It is a document that summarizes the information you submitted on your FAFSA® form.
The most important parts of the Summary are:
1. Your SAI (Student Aid Index). SAI is an eligibility index number that is calculated by the federal government based on the information you submit on your FAFSA® form.
Your SAI number is not what you will be expected to pay for college this year. Instead, it is a number that your college will use to determine how much financial aid you need.
Your SAI can be found under the Eligibility Overview tab of the Submission Summary. Here's how your Submission Summary and SAI appears on the online FAFSA®:
2. The Data Release Number - This is what you need to provide other colleges if you want to give them access to your FAFSA®. Note that you do NOT need to do this if you already added the college to your FAFSA® list (it'll automatically get sent). However, if you applied to more than 20 colleges, you might want to give the other college financial aid offices your DRN.
Here's how your DRN appears on the online FAFSA®:
