<p>After calculating the cost of application to 6-8 colleges, including the application fees, CSS profile submission fees, all SAT and AP score submission fees, I figured that around December I'd be spending 600-800 USD. Paying this amount all at once is bound to cause a lot of inconvenience. So getting a waiver from 3-4 schools would help a lot. So my questions are:</p>
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<li>Should I go for application fee waivers or is forcing my family to go through financial hardship really worth it? I mean, do the financial benefits outweigh the negative impact on my application(because I'll be asking for 90%-95% fin aid anyway)(I'm an international...)?</li>
<li>How do I actually ask for a waiver/what documents are required and how are they to be sent to colleges? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the NACAC and CB forms look like they're for US residents only.</li>
<li>How many waivers can/should I apply for?</li>
<li>Which colleges should I ask for a waiver? Should it be my backup, or my dream school or the richest school on my app list etc etc?
Thanks.</li>
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<p>Are you an int’l?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if int’ls can get fee waivers.</p>
<p>however, if you do qualify for fee waivers based on family financial info, then it would be wise to use them on the colleges with the highest app fee.</p>
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<p>This is correct. International students are not eligible for NACAC/College board fee waivers. </p>
<p>You may have to ask the schools directly. </p>
<p>However, keep in mind that this could be a 2-edged sword as most schools are no need blind to international students, meaning that your ability to pay will be a factor in the admissions process. </p>
<p>Your needing fee waivers to apply screams that you will need pretty close to the full cost of attendance to make that school a financially feasible option for you.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between an “inconvenience” and a hardship. If paying the fees would be a hardship, request waivers directly from the schools. If it would merely be inconvenient, then suck it up and pay the fees.</p>
<p>As for it impacting your application - nonsense! The very few schools that are need-blind for international applicants will be need-blind regardless of whether or not you apply for a waiver. And the overwhelming majority of schools that are NOT need-blind for international applicants will take your financial need into consideration whether or not you apply for a fee waiver. So it makes NO difference.</p>
<p>Honestly, the fee waiver process is clerical. I doubt that the admissions officers who ultimately review your application would even be aware that you’d requested a waiver.</p>
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<p>Actually, it is all part of your admissions file, from the big colorful fee waivers that come from the college board, to the NACAC fee waivers that have to be signed sealed by the school, to the record or how your fee was paid. An unpaid fee is documented as such and file is incomplete and does not go before the committee.</p>
<p>Hmm. Quite a few varied opinions.
@sybbie719 As I said, I will be asking for a lot of aid anyway. So does it matter to really ask for a few more dollars? Isn’t dodgersmom’s opinion correct in my case? Also, what you said about ‘me requesting an application fee waiver is an indicator of my poor financial state’ is actually quite true, but I was guessing that it is quite normal for students to do so. Doesn’t everyone want a waiver so that they can apply to more colleges? Is it that uncommon in the States? And could my file just get thrown in a bin for asking for a waiver?</p>
<p>I don’t know how successful you’ll be asking for a fee waiver at this point at various schools. It’s not like the schools would have your family financial picture at that point. As far as the school would know, you could be wealthy and just asking for waivers. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that there are a very limited number of schools that meet need for int’l students…and naturally, those are the hardest to get accepted to.</p>
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<p>While either way the school will still ask for your family’s financials of an international student as part of the admissions process at least they don’t have the piece of paper screaming at the beginning of the process, that I need money. In a way it is just putting a bigger target on you.</p>
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<p>Just because everyone wants a waiver in order to apply to more colleges, does not mean that every one is eligible for waivers. Even then the college board only grants 4 fee waivers. SUNY (the State University of NY) only allows 4 fee waivers. when they get your financial aid information, they find after the fact that your were not eligible for the fee waiver, they bill you the application fee and inform the other schools that you have not paid. </p>
<p>Theoretically the NACAC only grants 4 fee waivers, even though some schools (mine included) use more than 4 fee waivers. Just because you submit a NACAC fee waiver does not necessarily mean that the school has to accept it as there are schools that do not accept fee waivers period. Example: CUNY (City University of NY only accepts its own fee-waiver, to which they give an extremely small number (less than 10% for the number or free/reduced lunch studens) to NYC high schools).</p>
<p>Most students who are eligible for fee waivers in the US meet the federal income guidelines for reduced/free lunch and there is an income threshold that correlates with their family size. </p>
<p>The number of fee waivers a school receives must match up with the number of students you have on record as qualifying for reduced free/lunch. </p>
<p>Even if a student qualifies for reduced/free lunch, if they do not file the lunch form, they cannot get the fee waiver. I know at some schools, they ask for a copy of the budget letter or a copy of the parent taxes to verify the income.</p>
<p>There are, however, many colleges that waive fees if you apply online, apply by a certain (early) date, if you are a student they are targeting, etc. My S only had to pay fees for two apps out of 9, the rest were “VIP” or “early” or something along those lines - basically the schools wanted to encourage more apps or more apps in early. These were mainly midwest private LACs which he planned to aply to anyway, so it worked out well.</p>
<p>Eltanin…fee waivers are granted because of financial hardship, not so students can apply to MORE schools. </p>
<p>If you need a waiver, ask the school directly. If they grant it, fine. </p>
<p>With regard to aid, as mentioned, most schools are need aware for admissions for international students. Your financial need will be considered when your application for admissions is reviewed. This would be the case whether you asked for a waiver or not. If you need aid, it will be very clear from the financial information you send to the schools.</p>
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<p>No, no one is going to toss your file in the wastebasket simply for asking for a fee waiver! If you need it, ask for it.</p>
<p>And, although it may be true that the fee waiver is noted in your file, it is simply NOT going to be the deciding factor. In other words, NO school is going to say, “Oh, he would have been a great student . . . but he asked for a $60 fee waiver, so we’re rejecting him instead.” The schools that are need-blind aren’t going to care, and the schools that are need-aware will already have your full financial aid application when they review your file.</p>
<p>sybbie - Are you seriously trying to tell us that you’ve seen admissions decisions come down to something as trivial as a fee waiver request?</p>
<p>Yes I am. I’ll go even further that each year there are students on my caseload who has a problem with their application and when I have followed up with admissions, was told that the app was incomplete because the fee was not paid. </p>
<p>I have personally had to scan and e-mail or fax a fee waivers with the promise that I was sending the original in the mail to move the app forward.</p>
<p>Well, yes . . . but that’s a clerical holdup. The file can’t make it to committee unless the fee is paid or a waiver is approved.</p>
<p>That’s NOT the same thing as the committee making the decision to admit or deny based on whether or not the applicant asked for a fee waiver!</p>
<p>The net-net is if the application cannot make it to committee, it is highly unlikely that the student will be admitted. Incomplete applications often don’t get to committee, but the process still goes forward, it just goes forward without that application.</p>
<p>There are plenty of students who are denied each year due to delays and incomplete applications; unpaid fees, missing components to the application, financial aid forms missing/incomplete.</p>
<p>Regarding money; </p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of schools have financial aid budgets that they must adhere to. They do these budgets knowing that they have to make X # of offers to yield Y number of students. </p>
<p>Once the budget is exhausted, you could be a stellar student, but if you need $ and there is not enough to fund you, you will either be straight out denied, waitlisted or given an admit deny, where the school admits you but gives you an aid package that makes it virtually impossible for you to attend.</p>
<p>If you have a limited budget (and budgets are extremely limited for international students), what is going to give the school the biggest bank for the buck; to fund one student for 50k or to fund 5 students at 10k or 10 students at 5k? </p>
<p>The fee waiver will immediately signal that the school will have to fund this one student to the tune of 50K. Unless there is absolutely something outstanding in the file about the student that the school feels that it is "worth’ it to the school to fund the student, it does make it easier to pass on the student because the school knows that it cannot make the money work (and yes, I have been told this by admissions financial aid people).</p>
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<p>And, in the absence of a fee waiver, the candidate’s financial aid application would make the same thing just as obvious. Net result? Need-blind school = no difference. Need aware school = no difference.</p>
<p>The only way the fee waiver request could influence the decision would be if the student applied for a fee waiver . . . but didn’t apply for financial aid. That, I would imagine, would raise red flags all over the place!</p>
<p>However, the OP is an international applicant in a process where there are only 7 schools in the country that are need blind to them (most schools are need blind to US citizens and Permanent residents, which OP is neither. </p>
<p>They are evaluated in the international pool and the fee wavier sends a signal that they need a large amount of money before the the financial aid forms and certification of finances are even submitted. But I will put my years of experience and thousands of kids who I have gone through this process with under my belt and leave all of this to you.</p>
<p>I do agree with Sybbie that asking for a fee waiver would raise the red flag earlier in the application process. Since this student needs 95% or greater in financial aid to attend these very costly schools, I would still suggest that this student look at OTHER colleges as well. If he/she is really a competitive admit for the Ivies (something we don’t know…), he/she might also receive merit aid at the schools that provide it for international students. Again…YMMV on this…as not all schools offer merit aid to international students in the same way as those who are either citizens or permanent residents.</p>
<p>OP…again…fee waivers are granted for financial hardship. They are NOT granted so that someone can apply to an endless number of colleges. Perhaps you should prioritize your list.</p>
<p>What Sybbie is saying is that ANYTIME something is done out of the administrative normal means more mistakes can be made, and that this is a common hold up and issue. </p>
<p>If someone really needs application waivers, that person should request them. What Sybbie has said should prepare you to for the fact that there could be a snag when you have those waivers so have copies ready to fax and be diligent in staying on top of your application, more so than usual. The OP will not likely get waivers from all of the school he so requests, and should have a few schools where he has paid the fee. Also look for schools that waive fees if you apply on line or by a certain date. My son did not pay much in application fees at all this last time around. There were a lot of freebies out there.</p>
<p>Also…I don’t believe fee waivers are available for the CSS Profile for international students. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Just a note…there are 7 schools that are BOTH need blind for admissions AND meet full need for international students. All are extremely competitive for admissions for all students…and even moreso for international students.</p>