According to FAFSA instructions:
“If you (and your family) have unusual circumstances that might affect your financial situation, complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and then notify the financial aid office at your college. In some cases, the financial aid office may decide to take these unusual circumstances into account and adjust your cost of attendance or the information used to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Provide the financial aid office with adequate documentation to support any unusual circumstances.
Possible examples of unusual circumstances may include:
Tuition expenses at an elementary or secondary school.
Unusual medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance.
A family member who recently became unemployed.
Changes in income or assets that may affect your eligibility for financial aid”
Which means you have to contact each and every financial aid office and discuss that situation.
Your daughter will be applying to college next year when you will have more than half the year income established and as good of an idea on what future months will hold as most anyone. If you are unemployed, or making far less than what you were in previous years, this would be a subject to discuss with the schools.
However, when a friend of mine experienced this very situation, her kids’ college refused to give any concession to that lump sum payment even though it was a clear aberration in earnings They took a gap year. It made that much of a difference in their financial aid. It was not an easy decision for them to make because the older student had already taken a gap year to maximize financial aid—giving the family two in college at the same time. But in the end it was well worth it to them.