Where did you read that? And what sort of aid? Loans? Certainly not federal grants.
FAFSA is a fed app for fed aid. Any income can get a loan. A $200k Income would have an EFC of about $65k. Maybe if the student went to a 70k school, he’d get some work study, but probably not.
Suggest you run some net price calculators of some private and in-state public universities that may be of interest to get an idea of what financial aid may be like.
However, if you are divorced, there can be complications at some colleges; see http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html .
I live in a major city and get the expense of housing. But where you live is a life choice also. Not sure where you live but be prepared to pay a lot more for schooling. Besides the great suggestions… See if putting away 10,000 / year is realistic for you. Or more if you can. Also your condo hopefully will appreciate. You can take out some appreciation to help pay for schooling.
But before any of this… Make an appointment with a financial advisor. Come up with a plan to reach realistic goals and stick with it!
Tell you daughter NOW that money will be a factor. You don’t want her having her heart set on a dream school that is unaffordable. Your local state colleges will be 25K? She could do community college for the first two years. Also consider colleges that you may not have heard of that give merit aid. My daughter goes to one of the “colleges that change lives” and it gives generous merit. However, even with generous merit it may be hard to get tuition and room and board well bellow 25K.
If you have generous parents/grandparents they my consider giving her “college money” for presents. If you use credit cards a lot you may find a cash back or college savings credit card like Uppromise.
I think many, many of us are in the same boat of too much money for FA.
When she gets old enough she might be able to get a part time job and save a little so she can contribute herself.
Welcome to the club. It’s frustrating and disheartening. Of course you can move to NYS where the taxpayer will pay for your tuition if you attend a SUNY School. The only catch is you have to make under 125.
Lot of folks in this situation. At the end of the day, you can only do what you can do. Lots of great schools that will either offer some merit $ to reduce total cost or will jsut be less expensive. Although it’s quite early to get engrossed in this (other than to start saving) I would start looking at in state schools with honors programs and other state schools that have good merit for OOS.
I’m in the exact same situation as you. We’re not going to be able to save a whole lot for my daughter’s savings by the time our 7th grader starts college. Merit aid is usually the best way to make college affordable. The key is a high score on the SAT/ACT. Check out the nonresident scholarships from Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, and SUU. There’s also TCU and Baylor as well.
It may not be realistic for you, but think about whether you need to live where you do. For lots of folks, moving isn’t an option but for some, it is and can radically change family economics.
It sounds like you have a decent job in a,high cost of living area.
I would never trade my spot in the ‘donut hole’ for the circumstances that cause an EFC=0. There will be plenty of options for a bright student with a supportive parent that is looking ahead like you are.
Also -women’s colleges can be very generous with merit aid
I am in a high-property tax, high-cost area (Long Island), and also right on the border of being eligible for a tiny amount of aid or just missing it (we did not apply for aid for freshman year, so this is just a guess based on the NPC). I am a public school employee, and my husband earns less than I do.
But we have been able to pay for college by aggressively saving money. We have been putting the maximum allowable into the 529, as well as putting money into our retirement accounts, living for the future. This coming semester’s bill has been paid through my son’s own savings/outside scholarship and the 529 account.
May I recommend a home equity loan? We have set up a home equity line of credit in case we need to borrow money by the end of grad school, which looks likely. We would rather take on debt ourselves with a loan in our name than have our son start out life with any debt from a loan in his name.
Other colleges that provide excellent education with merit–
Goucher
Muhlenberg
St. Olaf
Earlham
Wooster
Dennison
Union in NY
Beloit
University of the Pacific
Lewis and Clark
Wheaton in Massachusetts
Connecticut College
Since a lot of these options are great, maybe the most obvious is to marry someone rich! 
I too am a single mom with and EFC higher than our state colleges. This EFC is unaffordable to me. D’s dad will not and is not legally required to contribute for college and he is a high earner. So NO CSS schools for us. When D was in 7th grade she knocked the Duke Tip SAT out of the park. I realized then that NMF was going to be our plan. I have D take the SAT yearly unprepped. Her score goes up every year. Also she has taken PSAT 8/9 both in 8th and 9th.
D is a rising 10th grader. She has known since 6th/7th grade that only HUGE AUTO MERIT schools are the target for us. So she will prep supper hard the summer before 11th grade for PSAT/SAT.
It was good finding out early on what the reality is that we are facing. I will not risk my home equity, retirement, personal savings. As I would only be a burden to her if I am not financially stable during retirement time. I do think I can contribute appx 12K a year out of current income if there are no job changes for me.
No Loans is my goal for myself and for my child. Luckily D hopped on board with this philosophy…edit we do not live a prestigious area of the country. So she does not get much peer pressure for top 20-50 type schools.
The good news is that you are figuring this out now, and not in your daughter’s junior year. If you have a high achiever, as others have said, practice those PSATs and shoot for NMF. My daughter had friends who got full rides at A&M, Alabama, Iowa, U. of Pittsburgh, and U. of Cincinnati. My daughtter missed NMF by a hair but got full tuition at one of our regional universities and great merit elsewhere. That said, I’m in the save as much as you can camp, and have your daughter start saving too. When she’s old enough to have a job, she should be contributing to her college account.
Here are some lists for best value colleges. Take it with a grain of salt as these lists are usually targeted towards high financial aid eligibles but among them few high ranked colleges have merit scholarships as well.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/the-20-best-value-colleges-of-2019.html
The best thing you can do is become educated in the process. Understanding college finances, the application process, how to judge your child’s competitiveness in comparison to other applicants, etc will give you the information you need to guide your child toward colleges that are affordable without taking on debt.
Your understanding of merit is incorrect. There are definitely high dollar scholarships out there for top academic students. You also need to understand the big picture of costs. Tuition is only one piece of the puzzle. Room and board on avg costs $12-15000. Add another $1000 for books. So full tuition scholarships can still leave you responsible for around $15,000 in expenses. (For example, being awarded a full-tuition scholarship at Fordham means that with travel costs an estimated cost of $20,000 per yr still exists )
That said, highly competitive top students will likely have financially affordable options if you tune out the voices that deem publics and non-tippy top schools as “second tier.” Tune out the voices that tell you that careers are limited if a students doesn’t attend a small list of highly ranked expensive schools. You’ll hear their echo chamber voices saying that employers only hire students with certain pedigrees. Unless your kid has her heart set on a handful of jobs in finance, their mantra is not transferable across most employers/jobs.
Fwiw, my children face very strict financial limitations when they apply to college. Our ability to contribute to their educations is about 1/3 of what colleges deem our familial contribution. For us, there is no way we can pay more and not undermine our own financial security and our younger children’s financial stability.
Our older kids have all managed to attend college without our taking on any debt and have been able pursue exactly what they have wanted even though they graduated from those “lowly 2nd tier schools.” Their options have not been limited bc they did not attend tippy top elites. Our ds who just graduated from a U ranked around 100 (and attended on full merit scholarship) is on his way to grad school where the dept is ranked in the top 5. Another ds who graduated from a state tech university that is only ranked regionally, not nationally, (also with scholarship $$) has an excellent career as a chemE and according to his age and experience, is earning significantly beyond avg salary expectations. Our current college student is also attending an OOS public on large merit scholarship. We are not concerned about her future career options at all.
Don’t panic. Research and become educated on the process. Save what you can. Don’t let her think dream schools are the only way to a great future bc those dreams can become financial nightmares.