Re: #52
While being “middle class” (upper income but not super-wealthy, if one goes by how people on these forums use the term) may be disadvantageous at the point of applying for need-based financial aid for college, it is typically highly advantageous for the previous 17-18 years of the student’s life in terms of in-school and out-of-school educational opportunities and opportunities to improve credentials (test scores, extracurriculars) to gain admission to colleges and earn merit scholarships.
Indeed, the advantage of coming from an upper income family is great enough that low achievers (by 8th grade test scores) from upper income families have as good a chance of earning bachelor’s degrees as high achievers from lower income families.
http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_20051012/