<p>My D got into Yale yesterday, and was thrilled. So were my wife and I until we got additional email advising us of ZERO financial aid. </p>
<p>My wife makes $175k salary as government "consultant" (label which means no benefits). I am unemployed real estate consultant/developer. I had heard H/P/Y had extended financial aid to upper middle class families like ours, so I was hoping for some help. Problem may be that I had consulting income in 2010, so our income that year was something like $270k gross and $195k AGI (after mortgage deduction, business expenses, etc). I lost that consulting job April 2011, so our gross 2011 income will be $175k wife and $50k husband, for about $225k gross (and probably $155k AGI?). </p>
<p>I have been underemployed since 2008 real estate crash, so even though we were really good savers through most of our careers, we are now down to our last $50k or so in savings. We have some equity in our California home, but we will not go into debt to finance D's college when we have little retirement savings. </p>
<p>With no current income for me and poor prospects of residential real estate employment coming back soon, we may be looking at surviving on my wife's $175k salary for an extended period. After deducting mortgage, health insurance, etc, the reality is that there is no way we can spend $60k+ per year to send D to her dream school. But after seeing D light up yesterday, I would like to figure out some way to make this possible for her.</p>
<p>We are working on getting her into some potential full ride schools, but she has worked so very hard we would want to explore all options before closing the door on the Ivies. Any ideas or advice from this sage and experienced CC readership?</p>