<p>I'm thinking I am maybe misunderstanding this idea.. </p>
<p>My current understanding is that adcoms do not see anything regarding your financial situation, only if you are applying for financial aid or not. So how would they know who is and who is not "very low income"? I know they want to provide economic diversity as well, so I was not sure how they would know who comes from low income families or not. I'm sorry if this question is dumb, I just never really paid much attention to the idea.</p>
<p>Are you asking if “need-blind” are truly need blind? Well, as Entomom has pointed out, a person’s zipcode or high school name can strongly indicate a person’s income bracket.</p>
<p>“Needs blind” doesn’t mean the school is unaware of markers (as entomom posted) indicating income or SES. “Needs blind” means finaid and admission are separate; the college doesn’t consider the fact that you need aid (or how much aid you need) in making admissions decisions - - but that doesn’t mean that your need isn’t considered in the composition or amount of your aid package.</p>
<p>It is not a dumb question. People often think need blind means your ability to pay is not taken into consideration. That could not be the case because there is no school that has unlimited budget for FA. Most of those schools offer FA to students’ whose family’s income is less than 120 or 180 (don’t remember that off top of my head). The percentage of people in this country that have that kind of income is probably 10 or 20%, so how does a school like Cornell consistently have around 50% of students that are full pay? “Needs blind” just means a school has a bigger budget than “Needs aware” schools.</p>