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The Cost of Applying
Tuition isn’t the only financial hurdle facing prospective college students today – simply applying to schools can cost hundreds of dollars, according to the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges.
The survey, which included approximately 4,000 accredited colleges and universities in the U.S., found that application fees for freshmen entering college in fall 2012 can cost as much as $100 at certain institutions. Considering that students often apply to multiple schools to increase their chances of getting accepted (the College Board recommends applying to five to eight schools), the total cost of sending out those apps can really add up.
Generally speaking, “application fees are partly to cover the cost of evaluating applications, and they’re also partly to filter out students who are only casually interested,” says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the financial aid websites Finaid.org and Fastweb.com. Due to the fact that 30 colleges in the survey charge an application fee of $75, we only included those from that group with the highest tuition to round out the top 10. So which colleges charge the most just to apply? Read our top 10 list.
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California University of Management and Sciences
Application fee: $100
Location: Anaheim, Calif.
Four schools in the College Board’s survey topped the list with application fees of $100, including CalUMS, a small private university for students pursuing business and science careers with an enrollment of only 50 undergraduates. The reason application fees are so high has to do with the fact that 98% of the student population is international, says Jeffrey Beasca, director of administration for CalUMS.
“Because our students come from all over the world, including the Middle East, Asia and some parts of the Mediterranean, our overhead expenses mainly involve costs for international recruitment, such as visa processing and the processing of papers coming back and forth from the U.S. to a student’s point of origin,” Beasca explains.
Despite the high application fee, tuition costs just $7,365 a year, according to the College Board.
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George Mason University
Tuition: $100
Location: Fairfax, Va.
The only public university on the list, George Mason offers undergraduate programs in areas such as engineering, information technology, biology and global affairs.
Although the application fee is $100, university spokesperson Daniel Walsch says that price is only for students who choose to mail a hard copy application to the school. Those who opt to file the application online only have to pay $60. “We wanted to discourage people from filling applications out the old-fashioned way, since online applications are just faster and less costly for us to process,” Walsch explains. Not surprisingly, he adds that the majority of students choose to forgo snail mail and complete their applications online.
Tuition costs $9,266 for in-state students and $25,748 a year for out-of-state students, according to the College Board.
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Coleman University
Application fee: $100
Location: San Diego
This private university seeks to prepare students for professions in technology, with majors including computer information systems, computer networking, game programming development and design, network security and Web media design. Tuition costs $15,143, according to the College Board. The university did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
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Pacific States University
Application fee: $100
Location: Los Angeles
This private university provides education in the fields of business and computer science. The student body is a mix of students from the U.S. and about 40 other countries. According the College Board, the school has an enrollment of just 14 degree-seeking undergraduates and tuition costs $19,340. The university did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
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Stanford University
Application fee: $90
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Considered one of the world’s top research and teaching institutions, Stanford admits a freshman class of about 1,700 students and a transfer class of about 30 students each year. Only 7% of applicants are accepted and tuition costs $40,050 a year, according to the College Board. The university did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
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Columbia University
Application fee: $80
Location: New York
Columbia declined to explain its high application fees, but what we do know is that only 10% of applicants are accepted to the famed Ivy League university, and tuition costs $45,290 a year, according to the College Board.
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Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Application fee: $80
Location: Needham, Mass.
This private engineering school charges a high application fee in order to discourage students who don’t have a true interest in attending. “We want to make sure that students take us seriously when they apply,” says Charles S. Nolan, vice president of external relations and dean of admissions. However, Nolan adds that any student who does not have the ability to pay can be granted a fee waiver, as is the norm at most institutions, he says. Tuition at Olin costs $39,450 a year, according to the College Board.
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Columbia University: School of General Studies
Application fee: $75
Location: New York
Columbia’s School of General Studies is a private liberal arts college “for returning and nontraditional students seeking a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League undergraduate degree full- or part-time,” according to the website. Tuition costs $43,728 a year, according to the College Board, and majors include history, English, psychology, biology, philosophy and religious studies.
Despite its high fee, the school says that, like some others on this list, it will waive the application fee for students in financial need.
“Columbia University School of General Studies’ application fee is in line with that of our peer institutions – Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, etc., and any student who is in financial distress will be granted a fee waiver,” says Anna O’Sullivan, assistant director of communications. “ In any given semester, we’ve provided up to 20% of applicants with a waiver for the application fee.”
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George Washington University
Application fee: $75
Location: Washington, D.C.
This private university in the nation’s capital offers a variety of academic disciplines, including international affairs, computer engineering, anthropology and public health. Tuition costs $44,148 per year, according to the College Board. The university did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
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Dartmouth College
Application fee: $75
Location: Hanover, N.H.
This private Ivy League college includes 29 undergraduate academic departments and 10 academic programs divided into four divisions: humanities, sciences, social sciences and interdisciplinary programs. Tuition costs $42,996 a year and the percentage of applicants accepted is 12%, according to the College Board. Dartmouth did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
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Other Schools With High Application Fees
There are 27 more schools that charge $75 application fees, as we stated earlier, so here are the ones whose tuition costs were too low to be included in the top 10:
The King’s University
Boston University
University of New Haven
Babson College
Lincoln University
Villanova University
University of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
University of the West
Harvard College
University of Chicago
Silicon Valley University
Amridge University
Excelsior College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yale University
Duke University
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Brown University
Manhattanville College
University of the District of Columbia
Thomas Edison State College
The College of New Jersey
Kean University
Charter Oak State College
University of Delaware
Salem State University
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Specialty Schools With the Highest Application Fees
The College Board’s survey also includes data on schools with specialized programs whose application fees are typically higher than most four-year academic universities. The top six schools in those categories are listed below.
Most – five of the six schools – are music/performing arts institutions. Part of the reason for their high application fees is that live auditions are generally required for acceptance at these types of schools. Explains Melinda Whiting, vice president for communications at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, “Evaluating auditions is more labor-intensive than simply evaluating applications. All auditions [at Curtis] involve multiple members of the major performance faculty as well as the dean and/or president of the school.”
Curtis Institute of Music
Application fee: $150
Location: Philadelphia
Berklee College of Music
Application fee: $150
Location: Boston
New England Conservatory of Music
Application fee: $115
Location: Boston
Helene Fuld College of Nursing
Application fee: $110
Location: New York
Boston Conservatory
Application fee: $110
Location: Boston
Juilliard School
Application fee: $110
Location: New York
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College Apps 101
Applying to college? MainStreet spoke to the experts to find out what you should worry about the most when filling out those forms, and what’s not worth panicking over. Find all the tips here!
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