COLLEGE APPLICATION FEE WAIVERS

APPLICATION FEE WAIVERS

WHO ACCEPTS FEE WAIVERS?

Most two-year colleges are free to apply to, so no fee waiver is needed. Many four-year colleges will accept

the ACT, College Board, and/or NACAC fee waiver for students who meet the criteria (more information

on that below). For these colleges, many will list fee waiver as a payment option on the admissions

application. Check with your school counselor to see if the college(s) you plan to apply to charge a fee and,

if so, whether they accept fee waivers from eligible students.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

Typically, fee waivers are available to students for whom the college application fees would create a

nancial burden or hardship. Students who were eligible for fee waivers to college entrance exams, such

as the SAT or ACT, are usually also eligible for college application fee waivers.

COLLEGE APPLICATION FEE WAIVERS

TYPES OF FEE WAIVERS

WHAT FEE WAIVERS ARE AVAILABLE?

There are three types of fee waivers typically accepted by colleges and universities, but it is important to

note that not all colleges and universities will accept fee waivers. Students or school counselors should

conrm with the admissions ofce at specic institutions to ensure fee waivers are accepted.

• ACT FEE WAIVER

ACT provides a fee waiver application in their ACT User Handbook for Educators publication, link below.

Students who are eligible for a fee waiver to the ACT college entrance exam are also eligible for a college

application fee waiver. School counselors need only print out the number of fee waivers needed and sign-

off on student eligibility. Students must also sign the form. The fee waiver may be found here:

https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/RequestForWaiverForm.pdf

• COLLEGE BOARD FEE WAIVER

The College Board states that students who have received a College Board fee waiver for the SAT or

the SAT subject tests may also be eligible for up to four college application fee waivers. Students should

receive their college application fee waivers at the beginning of their senior year through their SAT

accounts. College Board fee waivers will no longer require school counselor approval. More information on

the College Board fee waiver can be found here:

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/applying-101/college-application-fee-waivers

The College Board also provides additional information including a link to which colleges accept the

College Board application fee waiver here: www.sat.org/fee-waivers

• NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR COLLEGE ADMISSION COUNSELING (NACAC) FEE WAIVER

This fee waiver can be downloaded from NACAC’s website, provided below. Students must complete their

portion of the fee waiver request and a school counselor or TRIO representative must verify that a student

is eligible to use the form (a list of eligibility requirements are provided on the NACAC website and on the

fee waiver request – students must meet only one of the requirements to be eligible). NACAC recommends

that students receive no more than four fee waivers for the college application process. Additional

information on the NACAC fee waiver can be found on their website here: