Friendly PSA from your neighborhood college admissions officer!!
If you/your family can’t afford the application fee (usually $75-100), most colleges will just let you apply for FREE!
Colleges know many students can’t afford these fees so they offer fee waivers, which are basically coupon codes you can plug into the Common App. Then your application will be free to submit.
Getting a fee waiver will be slightly different for every school on your list, but they’re pretty easy to get!
Just email the college’s undergraduate admissions office main email and ask for one. You can send an email like this::
“Dear SCHOOL admissions staff, My name is JANE DOE and I am so excited to be applying to SCHOOL this year! [Insert nice sentence if you have one about the school or their tour or info session or whatever]. However, the application fee is a financial hardship for my family this year. My father lost his job this year/ we live in public housing / My mother has been ill and we do not have extra money /I receive free lunches through my school/ the pandemic has been really hard on our family’s finances. Would it be possible to receive a fee waiver for my application? Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide. Thank you so much for your assistance with this, I really appreciate it! Sincerely, JANE DOE”
Some schools may just say “Sure” and send you a fee waiver. Some may reply and ask for more information. Many may ask your school guidance/college counselor to send an email on your behalf confirming that the fee is a hardship for your family.
Please spread this around! This will NOT negatively impact your application in any way, this is a completely standard thing that pretty much all colleges will do! And schools KNOW this year is especially tough for students and families.
Good luck everyone, I am crossing my fingers for you all this year!
