App Fee Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>It seems I was smart enough to list Rice as one of my top, two schools after recieving National Merit Commendation and then I was lucky enough that Rice is a loving institution and sent me a letter saying they would waive my appliation fee. </p>

<p>After dancing with joy and sharing the good news with my parents (and their wallets) I started to think, how do I indicate on the Common App that the fee was waived? When I go to pay, do I just leave out the $60 chunk for Rice and hope they take care of everything at their end? I don't want to be abruptly dropped in the reject pile because of something silly like not paying the fee.</p>

<p>Has anyone else had their app fee waived (not because of financial reasons) or know how to handle the situation?</p>

<p>I'm just a senior stressin' about applications and my future.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>

<p>(Our BRACE (scholarships) advisor came into English today and had a Q and A session about colleges, so I decided to ask this same question. The response was, "It depends." That was also the response to every other question asked by the students, except it was worded differently. I love HS Guidance Counselors.)</p>

2

<p>I would suggest adding a very brief cover letter explaining that your fee had been waived. That can never hurt. If they get the idea, then they can just look it up in their records.</p>

3

<p>My son was in the same situation as you last year. I believe he called the Admissions Office and asked them and they said to not pay the fee through the Common App -- that they had the info about his fee waiver on file. If I remember correctly I think he went ahead and sent the Admissions Office a short letter letting him know that he didn't pay the fee because of they had waived it.</p>

<p>I think there were others last year asking the same question on this board. You could also do a search and see what they said.</p>

<p>It's not as clear as it could be, but it all worked out fine.</p>

<p>And he's now a very happy Rice freshman!</p>