I would go further than that and say that for families not in the top 25% of income, the cheapest 4-year colleges are likely to be elite colleges that are need-blind.
I'm hoping this is going to work for our family, but I have no idea. What do colleges do if you actually quit your job or reduce hours before filling out the FAFSA or whatever it is? Do they look askance? I realize this sounds nuts, but my employment is grant-based and/or freelance and thus, I have the ability to ramp my income up and down. We are also used to this.
Our family is very financially weird. We have a rather low income, but also a very cheap mortgage and no other debt. College savings are not huge, but on the other hand, we have quite a bit saved for retirement. We are probably doing everything wrong.
