As @TiggerDad so clearly posted, some people’s income can spike just in the last 2 years. We have the same circumstance because of , finally after 7 years, our business succeeding. We did save for at least 2 full years of college prior to the income spike. Our child is our only and he is aware of his fortunate ability to attend a really good, albeit, expensive university. If he was a high school senior several years ago , he might have received some need based tuition assistance. I wish that certain posters would understand that not every parent understands the Financial aid facts. Hopefully the OP will not marry off their kid just to skirt the financial responsibilities of sending their kid to College. I meant the last sentence as a joke because I’m sure the OP was joking.