(US News) By Briana Boyington —
Applying to college can get expensive, fast. Between campus visits, standardized tests and application fees, families can spend hundreds of dollars on college before the acceptance letters start rolling in.
On top of that, many students enter the college application process unaware of the costs.
“I think that depending on the college, there is a bit of a sticker shock,” says Evan Jackson, a school counselor and president-elect of the Ohio School Counselor Association.
The average application fee among the ranked schools who submitted these data to U.S. News in 2016 is $42. While some colleges allow students to apply for free, applications at some highly ranked universities can cost between $75 and $90. Stanford University – ranked No. 5 in National Universities – charges students $90.
“It’s not often, but I have had students say, ‘I’m not going to apply to this one because this is too expensive,'” he says.
Instead of limiting where they apply to save money, students struggling to pay for collegeshould reach out to their high school counselors to find out if they’re eligible for fee waivers. Students can look for resources to cover the following four college admissions components.
1. Save money on your college visits: To help students who can’t afford to visit, some colleges have fly-in or diversity programs that allow students to learn about a school while staying on campus overnight or for a weekend. These programs for high school seniors, which usually occur during the summer or fall, cover part or all of students’ travel costs. Spots are limited, and programs can vary from year to year and may have specific academic or demographic requirements.
Some schools also offer travel vouchers, which may not have specific requirements. For example, prospective students can fill out a quick form to download a $200 travel voucher to visit Converse College, a private institution in South Carolina.
“What I tell my students is, ‘If you know that you’re interested in a school and you know that you’d like to go visit them, then come see your school counselor and we can research the college fly-in programs,'” says Katherine Pastor, school counselor at Flagstaff High School in Arizona and the 2016 School Counselor of the Year for the American School Counselor Association.
2. See if you qualify for a SAT or ACT waiver: For students who register online or by mail, the SAT costs $45 – $57 for an exam with an essay. That fee includes four score reports that can be sent to colleges. The ACT will set you back $42.50 – $58.50 for an exam that includes the writing section – and also includes four score reports.
But students who qualify for a fee waiver can get their registration fee for the SAT or SAT subject tests covered; a total of eight score reports, which can be ordered at any time after they register for the exam; access to two services that allow students to see which questions they answered correctly; and up to four college application fee waivers.
Similarly, an ACT fee waiver will cover the cost of the ACT with or without the writing section, a report sent to the high school and reports sent to up to four colleges. Eligible students can only waive the exam fee twice, according to the ACT’s website.
Students can only get a fee waiver for both tests under a few circumstances, such as if they qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch at school or are enrolled in a low-income student program like Upward Bound.
3. Ask about college application waivers: “Using a fee waiver is a common part of the application process, and most colleges have information about fee waivers on their websites,” Jaslee Caryol, a spokeswoman for the College Board, wrote in an email. She encourages students who need more than the four application waivers that come in the SAT waiver package to talk to their school counselors and look at the National Association for College Admission Counseling website and the Common Application for more options.
But students who don’t meet those standards can also apply for free. Students can get waivers for applying online, visiting colleges or being related to alumni, at some schools.
[Read more examples of how to apply to college for free.]
The College Board has a database of 2,375 schools to let students know which institutions accept the College Board’s application fee waivers.
4. Apply for a CSS/Financial Aid Profile waiver: In addition to the FAFSA, students applying to private schools should fill out the CSS/Financial Aid Profile which more than 300 colleges, professional schools and scholarship programs use to award institutional financial aid and scholarships.
[Explore 10 shattered myths about financial aid.]
The application cost is $25 for the first program or school and $16 for additional programs. Students who received a SAT waiver can also receive up to eight profile waivers. Low-income students who didn’t apply for a SAT waiver can still apply to receive a profile waiver.
Students who need help filling out the CSS Profile form or finding waivers should reach out to their counselors.
“I always tell my students that you don’t know what you don’t know,” Flagstaff’s Pastor says. “The school counselor’s job is supposed to help them navigate those waters.”
Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
