Income

Applying to College
1

Hi,
I just wanted to know if income plays a role in admissions. Like for example, if Student A and Student B have similar stats, but Student A has a lower income, do colleges prefer Student A?
Thanks!

2

Most schools are financial aid need aware in admissions so Student B is preferred. Only at the very top tier of competitive college admissions involving schools with huge endowments will Student A have a possible advantage. Those schools do holistic evaluations and would consider achievements in the context of your opportunities. They would expect more impressive ECs and stats from a kid with higher SES so if similar stats they would give preference to Student A. Getting admitted to a school you can’t afford is meaningless so Student A not only needs admission but also FA that meets “full need”. Elsewhere on CC is a list of schools that admit “need blind” and meet “full need”.

3

Most schools are need BLIND in admissions… only a smallish number are need-aware.

4

As in my other thread…what I have found is that, with the exception of the very selective colleges, many of the “meet full need” schools are NOT need blind.

5

Nationwide, most colleges and universities are need blind in admissions. Also, most of them don’t have a lot of aid to give out. If you get in and can’t afford it, oh well. It is the shortlist of privates that are popular here at CC that are likely to become need aware as their aid money runs low in the admission cycle. They don’t like to have to admit but deny aid.

6

In most cases, the “meet full need” colleges (outside of the tippy top ones) are need aware and so the colleges would prefer Student B.
At all the “need blind” colleges that don’t meet need, their philosophy is “not my problem if you can’t pay”.
Only at the “meet 100% need, need blind colleges” would student A have a slight advantage if the college is trying to increase diversity (remember the finding that at these colleges, there are more socio-economically 1% students than bottom 60% so the advantage isn’t quite an advantage, more like, levelling the playing field a little.)