Student Aid Report

What is a Student Aid Report (SAR)?

The SAR is an output document produced by the FAFSA federal processor. Your SAR either will identify your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) or identify problems that must be corrected allow your EFC to be determined. The EFC is the number used in determining your financial aid eligibility.* Carefully read and follow your SAR instructions.

A SAR that is identified as having problems is called a “rejected” SAR. If you receive a rejected SAR, it will not include an EFC. Instead, the form will highlight specific information for you to provide to the federal processor so that an EFC can be determined. It will also include instructions for making the corrections.

You are not required to submit your SAR to OSFA. The FAFSA processing agency will electronically transmit your SAR data to OSFA, if you listed the WSU federal code, 002329, on your FAFSA.

If you do not receive your SAR within four weeks of filing your FAFSA, telephone the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4 FED-AID [1-800-433-3243] to determine the processing status of your application.

Special Note: If you apply for financial aid via FAFSA on the Web and you do not provide a valid e-mail address, the federal processor will send SAR Acknowledgement. It has fewer and less detailed comments than the SAR. For that reason the SAR Acknowledgement, unlike the SAR, cannot be used to make corrections to your FAFSA.

*Your EFC helps determine your financial need. Financial need is the difference between the total average annual educational expenses for your program and grade level and your EFC. To determine your financial need, OSFA subtracts your EFC from the average cost of attendance (COA) for your program and grade level at Wayne State University.

COA minus EFC = financial need