<p>How would low income affect acceptances? Would colleges choose a kid who comes from a kid who has a greater income (with similar scores and all that good stuff)?</p>
<p>A very few schools are need blind and won’t care a bit (think Ivies and near-Ivies).</p>
<p>The rest will consider low income in select situations.</p>
<p>For example… two comparable students are on the bubble (assume its a wait listed/stretch situation). The school is trying to decide which one to offer the admission to. It is later in the admissions process, so much of the funds have already been allocated and there isn’t much left in the budget for the year. The only difference between the two students is one has a high need at the school, the other has a low need.</p>
<p>Who are they more likely to offer admission to? The student who needs a substantial amount of help to pay for the school? Or would they more likely offer it to the student who already has the resources to pay for the school?</p>
<p>They know they don’t have the funds left to help the high need student, so the low need student is more likely to get the offer.</p>
<p>Low income will typically only be an issue at those schools where your student could get in only by the skin of their teeth.</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinion, I am actually thinking of applying to Penn and Columbia so I thought I was thinking that low income could be a negative since schools want to take in money for tuition. But I also thought it could help since I don’t have as much resources as higher income students but do just as well.</p>
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<p>The ivy league schools are all trying to recruit more low income students, so this is untrue, being low income is indeed a factor.</p>
<p>It’s a tip factor though as opposed to a hook. As you describe, if all things were equal between an affluent applicant and a low income one, the low income student, if he has had more limited opportunities, would win.</p>
<p>This is not a free pass, and usually is a much bigger factor if you are a URM, first generation or provide diversity in another way.</p>
<p>I think Penn and Columbia are need-blind. Someone should correct me if I am wrong. That means that a family’s ability to pay is not considered in their admissions decisions.</p>
<p>Yes, they are need blind. But they are also seeking low income students for diversity. Therefore, low income students get a tip. Again, it’s not a free pass. But if you’re a low income black candidate from the inner city, you’ll get in over a black candidate from an affluent family in the suburbs. It may not be much help to white/Asian kids from places with mixed income.</p>
<p>People on this site often speculate that low income is a hook or a “tip”. I know
of no research or evidence to support that conclusion and certainly the declining
rates of low income admissions in the elite schools would undermine that. Programs
like Questbridge and the Posse have had success getting low income students into
top programs and this is one way the elites can identify/pre-screen low income kids.
But the numbers accepted from these programs are still relatively small. Outside the
top schools the situation for low income kids is dire.
<a href=“http://www.jbhe.com/features/61_lowincome.html[/url]”>http://www.jbhe.com/features/61_lowincome.html</a></p>
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<p>Can you cite a source for this? I don’t know of any colleges that actually publish percentage of low income students, but more and more are telling us the number of first generation students. There is a big correlation between the two. Dartmouth this year had 14% first gen among the accepted.</p>
<p>But I would agree that outside of the top schools the low income have little choice.</p>
<p>the link in post #7 gives a table for top schools of Pell grant recips, about
as close as it comes for low income. Also pell grant stats are available on
nces and the economic diversity of colleges site (when it gets back up).
How accurate Pell grants are as a predictor of low income is up for debate,
but it’s probably the easiest way to gain that info. My own thoughts are that
the true low income number is a couple of points lower than the pell grant
stat. bte Penn has shown a rapid decline in low income students in recent
years while Columbia only a small decline.</p>