<p>My wife is 56 and has been working at the same job since she was 18. She now has her full pension and wants to retire. Our S is in the Class of 16. Our income if she works is about $120,000 per year. If she retires, yet I still get pay increases our income will be about $110,000 when he graduates, will the fact that she is retired allow us to get more aid simply because of her age when he graduates (58) and the fact she will be living off a pension and not working? FWIW we live in California. </p>
<p>No, her being retired does not make a difference. It is the income that matters (and her pension counts as income except for untaxed SS which would not be applicable at her age and with your total income level). Age makes a little bit of difference - the asset protection allowance is based on the age of the older parent and increases as you get older. The EFC os mostly driven by income unless there are substantial unprotected assets.</p>
<p>I was also able to retire when my kids were in college. I didn’t do so. I chose to continue working to pay for college costs.</p>
<p>The reality is that the vast majority of colleges do NOT meet full need for all accepted students. At your income level, the only guaranteed award you will get is the Direct Loan ($5500 for freshman year). </p>
<p>You will not get more aid simply because she is retired…and really, her age isn’t giving you much in asset increase protection either. </p>
<p>The question you need to ask…can you afford college costs without your wife working?</p>
<p>Probably won’t make a difference, it lowers your income but then if she’s collecting pension that is factored into AGI and most families that can afford to have one spouse retire, can probably afford their EFC. My husband retired in the midst of our kids heading off to college and we saw no difference in finaid even though our AGI was slightly lower. </p>
<p>Thank you everyone who answered. Your information was very helpful.</p>
<p>""the fact she will be living off a pension and not working? “”</p>
<p>lol…sorry, but that is funny to me. FA offices don’t care where the money comes from…work, pension, trust fund, or an oil derrick in your back yard. Its all money coming into your household.</p>
<p>And, even if your income drops because of the pension, it will be subjected to a harsher calculation because working taxes aren’t being deducted. </p>
<p>BTW…your wife could double dip. She’s young enough to grab some part-time job making 12k per year and still collect her retirement. </p>
<p>I must say in my case my D was able to get an additional $3K in grant money from her college. My wife retired at the end of January 2014…after I completed and submitted the FAFSA. Her retirement was partly due to medical reasons and stress but nonetheless, I submitted additional documentation to my D’s college and just last week we received a revised FA package which took this information into account. They upped her grant award another $3K…so it’s worth a shot to go back to the FA office. At least in my case it was. 
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<p>Scisguru, was there a decrease in income from the retirement? If something happens that is a drop in income that is highly unlikely to be changed, that can happen. A job loss often requires some waiting period since there are often unemployment benefits and another job found, but even so if after about halfway through the year, it becomes clear that the income for the year has been drastically affected, some schools will do a reconsideration resulting in some more money. </p>
<p>So if the retirement is resulting in drop of income, that is possible. Schools also are quick to recalculate aid due to additional income when a parent gets a new job and tells them as they are often asked to do. But if a parent retires and the income is the same, what on earth reason is there to recalculate? I know folks who got great windfalls and MORE money after retiring, and in some cases, they had to hold off the retirement due to loss of aid if that lump sum should come into the equation for aid. I have a friend whose kids had to take a year hiatus because he was early retired from his job and got a lump sum settlement which he parlayed into a start up for himself. Two colleges refused to give consideration as a one time payment and so he let the kids sit out that year and they got their aid in the subsequent year. I made the difference of about $60K in aid, all after tax money.</p>
<p>@cpt…actually the “net” of her retirement income is greater than the “net” of her work income. This was because there is no money being deducted for the retirement annuity and no 401K money being deducted. But if you look at the gross amount pre-retirement and post-retirement the income dropped. She’s getting approximately 70% of her highest salary. </p>
<p>And the fin aid reflects the net drop. It doesn’t matter what caused it. If she’d gotten the same or more as done on fin aid forms, she’d have gotten nothing. I know someone who got an increase in kid’s aid after taking huge drop in pay at his job. The definition used is as the fin aid documents calculate the net income, not how we do. HSA and 401 K things that we can deduct for tax purposes are added back in for fin aid. For PROFILE schools certain tax deductions, particularly in rental income, home business are added back in. </p>