Blossom here.
I realize you don’t want to go into detail… but if you don’t have much equity in the home right now, seems to me that’s a great situation to be in (not the rest of your stuff- sending you good karma that you can work it all out to your satisfaction). Living in a two million dollar house with no mortgage is a very different scenario than living in a 350K house where your equity is 35K. And if the latter is your situation, I’d stop worrying about the financial aid impact of your current decision-making, and just work through the best deal you can cut. The impact on your financial aid down the road is just not predictable- colleges are under no obligation to keep last year’s formula “forever”, and a good financial deal today is worth more than a “maybe” down the road.
And the solution might not be “simple” as you put it, as long as it’s equitable. Which might mean a skootch more in taxes next year but a better long term deal. You catch my drift…