<p>Hi guys. Essentially, I have a unique situation and was wondering if anyone could enlighten me. My mother is a stay-at-home mom and has never worked while my father made a decent amount of money selling his business and is now retired. Technically, our annual income is nothing (aside from a little money he might make in the stock market). Nevertheless, it is very low but we have a lot in assets. Would I be able to apply as an applicant from a low income family to improve my chances? I am pretty sure that I cannot, but I was simply curious. Also, I heard that applying for financial aid significantly reduces admissions chances. Since I do not actually need it (and do not want to take away opportunities from people who are in desperate need of it), I will not apply for it. Will this raise flags (i.e. low income not applying for aid). Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Nope, assets do count towards what you have to pay for college. A lot of assets is about the same as high income. You probably won’t be low income, fill out a financial aid calculator online to get an idea of where you are.
Most schools (in the US) are need-blind for US citizens, so applying for financial aid does nothing to your chances. If the school says “need-aware” or something similar that means applying for financial aid probably lower your chances.</p>