Common App: Fee Waivers For International Students

The Common App is a unified application portal for undergraduate freshmen and transfer applications to universities in the United States. It allows students to apply to a wide range of universities with the exception of the University of Texas campuses, the University of California campuses, and the University of Washington at Seattle. The Common App has been present and popular for many years now and has emerged as the most used foreign application portal in India for undergraduate studies in the United States. Whilst the Common App allows students to send ‘common’ application materials to different universities and interact with the admissions ecosystems in these institutions, it is an intricate system- one that requires regular usage and research to ensure comfort for students.

Common App Portal: Application Fee

Amongst the different pressure points that students face whilst using the Common App, paying the application fee for different universities is a critical area for lakhs of Indian students every year. Whilst there are some universities that do not charge any fee for submitting applications, almost all universities that are ‘aspirational’ for international students and command a certain level of prestige in the international ecosystem charge a certain rate of application fees.

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According to the popular U.S. News and World Report, the average application fee of the top 62 universities in the United States is around $80 (Rs 6400). Now, it is common for students to apply to at least eight universities and at most 20 universities. This would imply that students would have to spend anything between Rs 51,200 to Rs 1,28,000 just for university applications.

Note that this is in addition to other application costs including the cost of taking standardised tests such as the SAT, ACT, IELTS, and TOEFL; submitting arts portfolios, applying for the visa and so on. All in all, this ordeal makes foreign applications very expensive, especially for Indian students, many of whom are dependent on need-based financial aid to pursue their undergraduate education abroad.

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Students can apply for common app fee waivers to take the SAT/ACT.

Common App: Fee Waivers

Despite the challenges we just spoke about, the admissions process in the United States is actually the most sensitive to students coming from marginalised backgrounds. Universities have processes in place to waive application fees for students who demonstrate the ‘need’ for this exemption (similar to how universities in the United States provide need-based aid to students depending on their family’s financial circumstances).

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There are two ways of waiving application fee:-

School-Specific Fee Waivers

Certain universities offer specific waivers for students applying for undergraduate admissions based on their backgrounds or qualifications. These criteria might vary with university. For example, several schools including Amherst College offer aid to students belonging to minority communities. Whilst most of these waivers are limited to citizens/residents of the United States, schools often release policies and guidelines that extend this aid to international students as well. Applicants should research the admissions processes of different universities thoroughly to understand the waivers available to them (note that this research needs to be done each year given how dynamically policies are modified).

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Common App Fee Waivers

What makes the Common App fee waiver truly unique is that it waives application fee for not just one, but up to 20 (maximum number of applications possible) universities. Hence, getting this one waiver is highly consequential in streamlining admissions processes. The common app has a wide range of conditions; and if a student meets any one of them they are eligible for a waiver. Whilst international students are not eligible for most of these waivers, there are two methods which are successfully used by many:-

You have received or are eligible to receive an ACT or SAT Testing Fee Waiver | Students can apply for common app fee waivers to take the SAT/ACT (students typically need to pay a registration fee to take these tests). If a student has qualified for such a waiver, they automatically qualify for the common app waiver as well!

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You can provide a supporting statement from a school official, college access counsellor, Financial Aid Officer, or community leader | This is perhaps the most streamlined method of getting a common app fee waiver (even when compared to those only open to US students). Through this letter, any school counsellor, school principal, admissions counsellor or even a community leader (the definition here is ambiguous) attests that paying the college application fees would put a student’s family in financial hardship or the absence of a waiver will deter a student from applying to universities altogether. Given that the Common App requires school officials to submit documentation regardless, getting this ratified is usually a relatively simple process (in most cases officials just need to verify and not even submit a full written statement). In a wide majority of cases, the submission of this proof by a verified third party leads to common app fee waiver!

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Now, whilst it is a very common and prevalent phenomenon, getting a common app fee waiver does not guarantee a waiver from all universities, which implies that universities can still reject waiver requests even if the Common App approves it. However, this is quite rare and getting a common app fee waiver is a green signal for application fees to be waived for all universities!

Vijeeth Srinivas is a development consultant with more than extensive experience in the foreign education industry. With the Centre for Career Development and Essai Education he has helped hundreds of students secure positions in leading universities abroad. He is keen to make novel developments in education and skill development more accessible to students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.