<p>It probably has to do at least partially with how much money your family has saved, or if your parents can expect a pension. A lot of people without a high income but who have savings get royally burnt by these calculators. If your father made $99,000 but had a reasonable amount of savings, he would probably still get about the same amount of aid. When they say that sort of thing, "Families with under $100,000 get aid . … " they tend to only mean “If they never saved anything.” We learned that the hard way, too!</p>