<p>Does anyone know how much a very low income helps an applicant? I mean, my situation is a bit different, I think. Both my parents went to good colleges (a very respectable one in Japan and CalPoly SLO) but right now (and for a few years back) our income has been around $15K/year, I think, and have been receiving unemployment payments from the government, and help from my grandparents. I work and help pay for some things like rent and stuff. We are not on welfare though, so I don’t know how colleges will look at my situation. Can anyone give me an idea how they would? :)</p>
<p>I would suggest that you go to <a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5B/url%5D”>www.finaid.org</a> then to the calculator’s link. This will enable you to plug in the numbers and get an estimate of your EFC (Expected Family Contribution). Assuming your family doesn’t have major assets, you should be able to get good aid. </p>
<p>However, be aware that some colleges favor giving more in the way of loans, while others are more generous with grants and work study. </p>
<p>You are to be commended for helping your family with your work! Be aware also, though, that what you make will be assessed at a higher rater than your parents for the purposes of financial aid, yours at 35% and parents at 5.6% or so.</p>
<p>Good luck with all you are doing!</p>
<p>Thanks momofthree. But what I am also wondering is, do colleges have a preference over people with low incomes than high incomes?</p>
<p>No, they prefer students from families with high incomes who can afford to pay their tuitions. </p>
<p>Some colleges profess to be need blind, which means they will not look at your income. </p>
<p>But any private college that does not claim to be need blind would rather have paying students than students they have to fund – they will select primarily based on other factors (academics, athletics, etc.) - but if it comes down to a choice between two equivalent students, one who can afford to pay and the other who will need to be subsidized, they will choose the student with financial means. So you are better off applying either to colleges that are need-blind, or colleges where you are a particularly strong candidate for admission.</p>
<p>Okay, I can understand that. Aren’t most colleges need-blind though? I should look out for that. I have another question. Would it work for or against me if I ever wrote an essay about the hard times we’re going through now? I don’t know how to say it in another way…would it count as a “hook”?</p>
<p>please know that some (many?) colleges that are need blind to US residents may not need blind to international applicants. Thus, you need to check their website carefully.</p>
<p>Very few private colleges are both “need-blind” and guarantee to meet a student’s financial need. The most elite and competitive colleges - like Harvard - are need blind, but their high standards for admission tends to favor students from wealthy families, simply because those are the students with more educational opportunities along the way. Other than the very top colleges, most private colleges are not need-blind, but rather are need-aware. They will use their awareness of financial need in various ways – it may benefit students who are at the top of their applicant pool, and more likely to be attracted with a generous scolarship offer, but it will tend to hurt the students who are borderline candidates. Some schools will offer admission anyway, but deny financial aid or extend an offer the school knows to be inadequate – and others will simply deny admission if they can see that the student cannot afford to pay. Most colleges would rather use their financial aid dollars in a way that can be spread among several students - that is, they would rather be able to entice 6 excellent, middle class students to their schools with offers of $5000 each, than to spend the same $30,000 subsidizing a single student … unless the student needing the greater amount of aid has something the school wants. </p>
<p>An essay about the hard times you are experiencing will not work against you, as long as you find a way to cast it all in a positive light and don’t sound like you are complaining or making excuses. In most cases, it will help – but that is separate and apart from the financial need question. There are many needy applicants who may also have outside scholarships – so colleges won’t assume that the fact that your family is going through hard times necessarily means that you will require their financial aid dollars to attend.</p>
<p>calmom,
I really liked your summary – thought it was pretty accurate & helpful to applicants. Also like the phrase “need-aware” – whether or not it’s your invention.
I would only slightly disagree with your last sentence. Even if colleges assume that a needy student would be seeking outside scholarships, we have yet to find any that are more than nickels & dimes when it comes to a tuition bill. I’m amazed at the hoops one has to go through to compete for a lousy $100 or $500. 
. Some are as much as $1,000, but there don’t seem to be that many of those in categories that most students would qualify for (ie., special ethnic or legacy categories or a very specialized e.c.). To make a dent in a tuition + cost-of-living bill, one would have to apply, & win, 5-10 of these, minimum. And the research for those scholarships – the qualifications, the categories, the amounts, the requirements – it makes an application to a top college look like a cake-walk (to us, anyway). I’ve looked in those huge scholarship books, and online onto umbrella sites: I come up with the same conclusion every time. However, if you know different, I’d love to hear about it!
(If my information is accurate, then I would think college fin.aid offices would also know that.)</p>
<p>Epiphany, I just meant that the college is probably going to look at whether or not the student has applied for financial aid, not the subject of the essay, to determine if the student is needy. </p>
<p>There are also some good outside scholarships for students who are financially needy – Gates Millenium is one that comes to mind - – a quick check on the internet shows me that there were 4 students from high schools in my daughter’s district who received the award last year, including one from her high school. Gates meets full unmet need – but it also goes only to Pell Grant receipients. I think the problem you are running into in searching out scholarships is the middle-class squeeze issue – a lot of the better scholarships do require a showing of significant need.</p>
<p>…actually, I didn’t mean that the colleges would be looking at “the subject of the essay.” When you said “outside scholarships,” my mind immediately leapt to those umpteen different “special category” private scholarships. I knew that there was some Bill Gates ‘something,’ shall we say, but somehow I thought that my info was that that was for public school students only.</p>
<p>From what I see, both middle class & needy students are very challenged in the college process unless they qualify for colleges with very generous aid. (That would usually mean top-tier privates or their own in-State publics IF there are “automatic” scholarships for the in-States, based on need and/or merit.) And we’ve seen that admitted pool of “highly qualified” to be just a small fraction of all U.S. college applicants. I would love more private organizations & foundations to become more proactive in this realm.</p>
<p>However (back to the OP!), given the income you quote, you may very well qualify for great aid. Go to the link that was suggested. :-)</p>
<p>FWIW, in case it helps anyone else, the Gates eligibility criteria are:</p>
<pre><code>* are African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American;
- are a citizen/legal permanent resident or national of the United States;
- have attained a cumulative GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (un-weighted);
- will be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as a full time, degree-seeking freshman in the fall;
- have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in the community service, extracurricular or other activities; and
- meet the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria. (Eligibility for Federal Pell Grant can only be determined through the submission of a Free Application for federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Programs).
</code></pre>
<p>It doesn’t say anything about coming from a public school - although I think as a practical matter, there probably are very few students in private schools who meet the financial criteria.</p>
<p>Wow! This is all very, very helpful! Thank you very much! I don’t have any further questions, it seems like you covered most everything!</p>