03.10.09 | What Does A SAR Report Consist Of?
Janet Johnson of Abington Massachusetts sent me an email recently asking for help in breaking down the SAR report, and I thought it might be beneficial to blog about it and share the answer with everyone as I am a man of the people. 
By the way, SAR stands for Student Aid Report and is the figure located in the upper right hand corner of said report. The SAR is also the report you get back from the Department of Education after you file your FAFSA.
There are four key ingredients for dependent students that they look at.
- Available Parent Income
- Avilable Parental Assets
- Total Parental Contribution
- Student Contribution
The available parent income simply looks at total income and then deducts taxes, a basic income allowance (like food and shelter), and looks at other exclusions such as child support payments.
The available parental assets is pretty straight forth. That just covers checking/savings, real estate investments, family business net worth, etc. It deducts education savings (like a 529 College savings plan).
Total parental contribution is just available income + assets which gives you the adjusted available income multiplied by the assessment rate. There is also a deduction if any other children are in school.
The student contribution is total income minus work-study earnings, taxes, and provides an income protection allowance of $3,750 per year.
The parent and student information is then added together and that gives you your EFC total.
I hope this helps clarify things for you. Also, special thanks to Janet for the query. Keep the questions coming gang.
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