Know what college really costs you — before you commit
The federal aid formula produces one number. Your bank account produces another. CollegeDI's assessment estimates both — your Student Aid Index (SAI) and your True Ability Index (TAI) — so your family starts the college search with a budget you can actually live with.
How it works
Two numbers, one honest budget
Start with the formula colleges see, then correct it for the life your family actually lives.
Estimate your SAI
Answer 13 core questions in Simplified Mode, or switch to Detailed Mode for a result aligned with the full 2026–27 federal worksheet. You'll see how the aid formula evaluates your family — including Pell Grant eligibility indicators.
Calculate your TAI
After finalizing your SAI, add your real monthly expenses — housing, transportation, debt payments, groceries, and more. The TAI turns your actual cash flow into a sustainable annual college budget.
Plan from one number
Your results become the financial foundation for everything that follows: personalized net prices, college recommendations, and the full financial impact analysis.
The gap most families never see
The formula ignores your real life
Your Student Aid Index estimates how the federal aid formula evaluates your income and assets. But that formula doesn't ask about your mortgage, your car payments, or the other children you're raising.
The True Ability Index starts from your income, subtracts what your family genuinely spends and owes, keeps a 10% cushion for the unexpected, and splits the result across every student in college — giving you a practical recommended budget instead of a theoretical one.
Student Aid Index
What the federal formula expects
- Income, taxes & assets — mirroring the 2026–27 federal worksheet
- Simplified Mode: 13 core questions
- Detailed Mode for the closest worksheet-aligned estimate
- Pell Grant eligibility indicators
True Ability Index
What your family can sustainably pay
- Builds on your finalized SAI inputs
- Subtracts real monthly expenses and obligations
- Keeps a 10% buffer for the unexpected
- Adds contributions from a divorced parent or others
The gap matters. When your SAI is higher than your TAI, colleges may expect more than your family can comfortably pay. Seeing both numbers side by side tells you exactly how much aid — or how much lower a net price — you need to look for.
Grounded in your budget
The expenses the aid formula never asks about
The TAI works through your household's actual spending. If you don't know an exact figure, sensible defaults keep you moving — and everything can be refined later.
Estimates, honestly labeled
What this is — and isn't
Your SAI result is an estimate modeled on the 2026–27 federal aid worksheet. It is not an official FAFSA determination, and Simplified Mode results may not exactly match what studentaid.gov calculates — Detailed Mode gets you closest. CollegeDI does not submit the FAFSA for you and cannot guarantee any amount of financial aid.
What the assessment does do: give your family a defensible, clearly explained starting number for every decision that follows — from which colleges to consider to how much debt would be safe to take on.
Start with the number that changes everything
The assessment is free to start and takes about 15 minutes. No credit card required.