College Application Fees Questions

Hey everyone, I'm a junior starting to look at colleges and some application fees seem pretty high. Are they typically waived if you have financial need? Or is it possible to get a fee reduction? It's a bit overwhelming 😓

Absolutely, you can certainly get your college application fees waived or reduced if you're facing financial challenges. The College Board provides fee waivers for students with demonstrated financial need to reduce or eliminate the cost of sending out college applications.

In order to qualify for a College Board fee waiver for college applications, you must have either received or been eligible to receive an SAT or ACT fee waiver. If you were eligible for that, then you should also be eligible for a college application fee waiver.

Even if you're not eligible for College Board waivers, you can still directly ask the colleges for a waiver. They may have their own criteria for granting waivers, which also typically involve demonstrating financial need.

The Common App has a fee waiver included in it as well. If you're using the Common Application to apply to colleges, you can indicate your need for a fee waiver directly on your application. It asks few questions to determine your eligibility. The Coalition App has a similar process.

Don't let application fees discourage your college search process. Many institutions are understanding about financial hardship and have processes in place to help students who need this kind of assistance.

If you have more specific questions about fee waivers, I'd recommend getting in touch with your counselor, as they can give you more personalized guidance about your eligibility. CollegeVine's blog also provides a more comprehensive overview of different avenues to fee waivers, for different components of the college process, which you can access here: https://blog.collegevine.com/the-complete-guide-to-fee-waivers-in-the-college-application-process

Best of luck with finding an affordable path to applying to college!