MrsPete, Your post covers what I saw exactly.
My kid being from a low income (ahem) but high investment household certainly lost her some scholarships, and gained her others. The low income helped, but the high investment hurt. Different organizations have different criteria. And, she was in sports, band, student council, Nat Honor Society, plays and you name it. A good gpa and test scores helped a lot. A big thing was choosing a major that local business is really interested in funding.