The resources on this page are intended to help you submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and obtain your Student Aid Index (SAI), which is used as part of the Weatherly Scholarship financial need assessment.
The new FAFSA has been designed to be more user friendly and simpler. However, due to the redesign the application was not made available until early January 2024, three months later than usual.
You can access the application on StudentAid.gov, but the U.S. Department of Education is only making the form available for brief periods. The agency is also still working through some early issues with the form.
The new form also introduces several changes. Most notably the SAI, formerly known as the expected family contribution, to calculate aid eligibility. The purpose of the SAI is to assist with determining your need based financial aid. This is a formula used by all colleges that looks like the following:
Cost of Attendance (COA) – Student Aid Index (SAI) – Other Financial Assistance (OFA) = Financial need
For example, at the University of Texas at Austin, for the 2023-2024 academic year, the cost of attendance is estimated at $30,752. If you have a SAI of $15,000 and other aid of $5,000 the formula might look like this:
$30,752 – $15,000 – $5,000 = $10,752
Therefore, you would qualify for up to $10,752 in aid from the university.
The Weatherly Scholarship uses the SAI as part of the calculation for your need score, which is a maximum of 40 points of the 100 total points. Please review the guidelines for details on the points categories. Within that score we also consider the total people in your family, how many others in your family are in school, and an essay describing your financial need.