<p>Here’s the deal, my dad just retired from his job, so now his income is technically $0 a year. My mom makes around $35,000 dolllars a year. My parents already have most of the money set aside before my dad retired, but since our family income is less than 40k, does that entitle me to free tuition at these new schools with new policies that say that if you earn less than x amount you go here free?</p>
<p>My guess is yes if you can document that the income level is zero and $35,000, respectively.</p>
<p>Just submit your mom’s income tax forms and point out that your dad didn’t file one. Point out that your dad had no W-2 sent to him.</p>
<p>Check out this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=288982[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=288982</a></p>
<p>Realize that there are very few colleges that will give excellent aid packages to students with extremely low expected financial contributions. Most such colleges are places like Harvard and Princeton, some of the country’s most difficult colleges to gain admission to.</p>
<p>Make sure that you have at least one financial safety: A college that you know you’ll gain admission to, definitely can afford, and would enjoy attending. Often such colleges are local 4-year or 2-year public colleges that students can commute to.</p>
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<p>You will need to check. The implication of your post (just retired) is that your dad drew income in 2006, and that WILL matter. Also, remember that your dad probably has some kind of retirement income (pension, investments, SS, etc) and for some people, that retirement income is more than the average working salary. And as NSM pointed out…those schools which offer full rides and meet full aid are not the majority of colleges by any measure or means…and the first (and not easy) step is to be one of the 90% of applicants who do not get rejected by these schools.</p>