Student Aid Index
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is calculated according to a formula established by law. Your family’s taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security) all could be considered in the formula, as well as your family size. Due to recent changes in federal law, the number of persons in college in your household no longer affects the calculation. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid’s2025-26 Student Aid Index and Pell Eligibility Guide shows how an SAI is calculated.
Your SAI is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college, nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by Student Financial Services to calculate how much financial aid you are eligible to receive. For the 2025-2026 year, the SAI ranges from -1500 to 99,999; however, a negative SAI does not mean additional aid. Negative SAIs are treated as '0' when calculating student aid eligibility.
Need-based Aid
The Student Financial Services office subtracts a student’s SAI from the Cost of Attendance (COA) to determine the amount of financial need you have, and therefore how much need-based financial aid you qualify to receive for the year.
Need-based aid is financial aid that you can receive if you have financial need and meet the eligibility criteria. You can’t receive more need-based aid than the amount of your financial need. For instance, if your COA is $6,000 and your SAI is 2000, your financial need is $4,000 (6,000 - 2,000); so you aren’t eligible for more than $4,000 in need-based aid. Student Financial Services is required to adjust financial aid awards to remain within a student’s financial need figure for the year.
The following are types of financial aid that have a need-based component.
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity grant (SEOG)
- Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
- Federal Work-study
- Pennsylvania State Grant
- Pennsylvania Ready to Succeed Scholarship
- Non-Pennsylvania state grants
- Temple University Grant
- Most Temple scholarships (awarded by Admissions or school/college)
- Temple tuition remission (Main Campus and Temple Health)
- Outside grants and scholarships
- Employer tuition remission
- some veterans benefits
Non-need-based Aid
Non-need-based aid is financial aid that is not based on your SAI. What matters is your Cost Of Attendance (COA) and how much other assistance you’ve been awarded so far. For instance, if your COA is $6,000 and you’ve been awarded a total of $4,000 in need-based aid and private scholarships, you can get up to $2,000 in non-need-based aid.
The following are some of the non-need-based sources of financial aid.