Mentally preparing myself, I clicked warily into the “Application Requirements” section of my Common Application.  There, the application fee of each institution I was applying to was listed in a neat column.  My forehead wrinkled as I read the fee of $50 each for several applications, $80 each for a couple more. 

Yet, as steep as these fees might seem, they represent only part of the true cost of the college application process.   

In May of my sophomore year, I sat for my first AP test.  I booted up my computer, logged in, and wrote the two short essay questions that I had paid $95 to complete.  The next school year I did the same thing.  And in a couple of weeks, I will pay an additional $20 fee per school to send those scores to colleges.  Additionally, the current cost of taking the SAT test is $55, which increases if one wants to change their testing location, cancel their registration, or send the scores they earn anywhere (the College Board allows students to send their scores for free to four colleges, but they must choose to do so before seeing these scores). 

These various costs and fees, when looked at individually, might not seem severe, but over time they add up to a heavy expense.

Of course, there are fee waivers.  The College Board and the Common App both offer ways to avoid application fees. 

However, just because my parents can pay these fees does not mean it’s sensible that they have to, and it doesn’t mean that I can’t question exactly what the money is paying for.  How does sending an AP score from the College Board’s database require so much labor or equipment that it justifies a $20 per college fee? 

And when some admissions officers have stated that they can get through as many as 15 applications in an hour — which means about four minutes on each application — how is an $80 application fee indicative of anything but taking advantage of applicants?  

The high total price of applying to university is too commonly taken as a given.  Considering that every cost associated with attending college has ballooned in the past few decades, it seems to make sense that the price of the application cycle would do the same. 

But more applicants should ask what the money is really being used for.  Why must the College Board, a nonprofit organization, charge students such high rates for tests?  How does one school arrive at $80 per application while another charges $50?  In fact, some schools charge no application fee, so why the wide discrepancy in policies across the country? 

Ultimately, a lot of my frustration stems not only from being asked to pay these fees but also from realizing that such a cost contradicts the rhetoric surrounding the college admissions process.  The College Board commonly emphasizes its mission to assist students, and almost every college information session I’ve attended has included a conversation about the institution’s commitment to transparency and student welfare.  

In the end, however, college-bound students have little choice — we’ll pay the fees.  Regardless of how upsetting we may find the entire process, we need to take the tests, send the scores, and pay for the application to be evaluated.  Nevertheless, we shouldn’t settle for the current system without careful consideration of how we got here and whether we’re reaching a breaking point.