Student aid is based on need. If you have dependent children and a lower income, you have a higher priority for aid. Before applying for any aid, no matter what college, you need to fill out the FAFSA form, http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
Even for state based aid, colleges use this information to determine your need. It is based on the income from your last year's tax return.
The financial aid office at your college can tell you what is available at your school. Filling out the FAFSA form in advance helps them.
Good luck, my son is in the process of changing careers, he's been unemployed since March. So he's just done all this looking for aid, and he wound up using a student loan for the first semester, then hoping for a Pell grant for the future, because he was employed last tax year.