<p>Probably a generic question, but I just need confirmation if it plays a role in the admissions...</p>
<p>No</p>
<p>For those schools that are need aware in admissions, yes it could hurt. Most schools are not. </p>
<p>You know…if you think you might apply for need based aid, and it would be a help if you got it…answer yes.</p>
<p>If your family really can pay the full cost of attendance for you to attend college…and you are sure of that…say no if you want to.</p>
<p>As noted, some schools are need aware for admissions. If a decision came down to a full pay student and one who needed significant aid…and everything else was equal…the full pay kid MIGHT get the nod for admissions. MIGHT…because you also don’t know what other factors the school will weigh.</p>
<p>^^^i don’t think it’s so much a question of if you’re sure your parents can afford it (obviously they cant or you wouldn’t be asking the question) as it is a question of whether or not their income is too high to be awarded any financial aid. The answer may change at different schools. </p>
<p>But let’s suppose you’re looking at, say, Scranton, and your income is 180k and you’re the only one in your family in college, you need to figure you’re not getting any financial aid. If that’s the case, you should consider whether or not you’d want the school to have all the info on your family that’s found in the FA filing. Like many full pay families, you could end up negotiating the tuition price and so you’d need to decide now the advantages/disadvantages to tipping your hand this early in the game. Talk it over with your parents. </p>
<p>Also if you’re going to need loans, find out the rules for how late you can file the FAFSA. </p>
<p>To get the Direct Loan, you can file,the FAFSA any time during that academic year. So…if you are looking at the 2015-2016 school year, you can file that FAFSA any time before June 2016. But you really need to do,it before your academic year ends. You can then get the full Direct Loan for freshmen of $5500.</p>
<p>I say no because of the following reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When a college that does not have generous FA sees that the parents are in the upper middle class, it will admit the student because it’s more likely that the parents will pay and the student will attend. The student can apply for FA but will not get much aid. It only hurts the low income students to say yes.</p></li>
<li><p>If the OP needs FA then he/she should say yes. There is no point to have an acceptance letter but the family has to struggle to pay.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>No it won’t hurt. It’s not uncommon for families with very high incomes to file financial aid forms. Depending on circumstances families with income well in excess of $200k could qualify for financial aid. Maybe not much but $2000 is $2000 you don’t have to pay</p>
<p>@jelly765 This article will clarify for you…</p>
<p><a href=“Does Applying For Financial Aid Hurt Your College Admissions Chances?”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2013/10/29/does-applying-for-financial-aid-hurt-your-college-admissions-chances/</a></p>
<p>Hope this helps. : )</p>
<p>I want to add that the fact that you are “upper middle class”, however one defines it, isn’t the part that may end up hurting you for admissions to any college when applying for financial aid. Some school are need aware for admissions as I noted above and for those schools, it’s possible that you are asking for and/or needing aid CAN, not necessarily DOES, but CAN hurt your admissions chances. Most of those schools do admit most of their students, on a need blind basis, but for there is a category when their money gets low that need start playing a part on who they pick.</p>