<p>I've been told that colleges only look at income levels for financial aid purposes, is this true? Also, I am a first generation student; will this factor help me? Do colleges actually pay attention to this detail?</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>bump for the night</p>
<p>Income matters at some schools and not at others. Many colleges will explicitly say their admissions are solely based on academic criteria, but others won’t. Do your research if this is an issue for you.</p>
<p>First generation is a small boost at basically any college. It’s not on the same level as an URM, but it’s there.</p>
<p>
No. It depends on how each school weights the admission criteria. You can check out the Common Data Set for each school, section C7, to find out. For instance, using U Montana as an example <a href=“Budget, Planning and Analysis”>Budget, Planning and Analysis; they mainly use class rank, rigor, GPA and scores. First Gen is not considered at all.</p>
<p>For FA colleges look at income and some assets. Most colleges now have a net cost calculator on their web site. Try it for each school you are interested in.</p>