Do colleges look more favorably on applicants who can pay full tuition?
If a college is ‘need-blind’ it means that they do not look at your ability to pay when you apply at all, so they don’t favor you either way. Colleges that are not need blind do look at your ability to pay, however, and if you cannot pay full tuition that might factor into their decision. When you apply to colleges look up each of your schools to see if they are need blind or not. This is easily discoverable, as schools that are need blind advertise this fact. This isn’t to say you won’t get accepted by a non-need blind school if you would require financial aid, but it’s a good thing to know going in. Also, if you are on the waitlist, it is definitely more advantageous to be able to pay full tuition than to need financial aid.