Transfer Admissions Questions

<p>I have a few questions I have been mulling over and hopefully I can get some answers or at least clarity for them.</p>

<p>A little background...
I graduated in '04 and am now rather serious about my education. I had completely forgotten about a previous college attempt while I was working right out of high school and got a rather dismal 2.5-ish GPA through 30 or so credits. After joining the workforce (and leaving about a year and a half ago) I knew I wanted to go to college. At the end of this semester I'll have upwards of 45 credits at my current school wiyh a 4.0 GPA. It wasn't until I was looking to transfer that I remembered my past college experience.</p>

<p>Now onto the questions...
1. I'm enrolled in a program with a state school which guarantees admission for 30 credits at a 3.0 at the "member school" which isn't a problem. How much would my grades from 8 years ago affect my chances of getting additional merit aid?
2. Is there some sort of time that schools would overlook past performance and judge primarily on my last two years?
3. Would this be drastically different from school to school?</p>

<p>I doubt I'd have much trouble getting into the schools I want but aid would be a primary factor in where I'd choose to attend.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>