I just spoke to my cousin who is on the scholarship commity of a well known MO school (name withheld to protect his identity).
He said the way they look at it is:
1) Parents have to be making an effort. If the mother is a SAHP (without little kids), they require her to get a job before asking for a scholarship. If the she is working short hours, they ask her to work longer hours. (Obviously, if she can find a job and get more hours)
2) In cases where people have homes with lots of equity, they will ask the person to take out a home equity loan to cover tuition.
3) They don’t mind if a small amount of money goes into savings every month (not like $1,000/month, but lets say $2-300). They think its important to budget for emergencies.
4) He said cleaning help is ok for full time working parents as long as its limited (meaning, not full time unless that includes child care with cleaning type of situation).
I thought it was interesting to hear his take on scholarships.