Can anyone here clarify these fees?
Is there always a non refundable fee for the prescreen even if you do not pass ? That could add up 
And is the application fee additional? Which fee tends to be higher? Do you pay the app fee before knowing if you pass the PS?
Is the audition fee in addition to the prescreen/app fee? Or do you only pay that if there is no PS? Is it going to getacceptd or directly to the college?
Sorry for all the questions!
Yes, the fees are non-refundable even if you donāt pass. And yes the application fee is additional. And there are some schools that have the audition fee if no prescreen fee, and some may have all three. The fees for the whole process are quite a chunk of money. Some people can get the fees waived if they qualify for free/reduced lunch- that is something you can check with your school counselor. But people need to go into this process eyes wide open- is is VERY expensive.
The answer, as is common in this process, is - it depends. I believe all of the prescreens we sent this year that had a prescreen fee (not all had prescreen fees) were on top of the application fees and I donāt believe any were refundable regardless of outcome. Some schools also have an audition fee (the highest I heard this year was NYU at $200; I am not familiar with the NYU process so do not know if that is the only fee or a fee in addition to other fees). I did not track all the fee dollars but believe they were fairly close.
Wow - NYU was no where NEAR $200 in 2014 - if that is accurate, that is a serious jump in 4 years! (I believe the audition fee was $50 for my D). If my old spreadsheet is correct - we spend about $700 on the application/audition/prescreen fee process ā¦ and D was āonlyā doing 12 schools.
@toowonderful The prices for application and audition fees has gotten very expensive. NYU is one of the highest. The application fee alone was $100 last year which we paid, but she decided not to audition so we didnāt end up paying the additional fee for that. BoCo was $100 for application as well plus an audition fee. Most others were in the $50 range for apps and many, though not all charged a prescreen and audition fee. We figured out that our expense for just application and audition fees was over $2000 when it was all done. That was one thing I really was unaware of before starting this process
Wowzers!! Again, looking back to 2014 - application fees were generally between $30-50, audition fees were generally under $50. My hat is off to all of you
I donāt know if this is still true because it was 4 years agoā¦a number of schools had no application fee if you used their online application and not the common app. Save where you can.
We were so excited when my daughter came to the end of her Ohio Northern application and there turned out to be no fee. 
I believe that was the only one. I think the only one with a separate audition fee on her list was Montclair, though.
Baldwin Wallace doesnāt charge an application fee but audition fee is $75. They do feed you lunch. Viterbo had a $20 walk in fee and free app and ball state had a free walk in and $55 app. Otherwise, every other school I believe we paid two fees (app + audition/pre-screen fee), non-refundable. Plus, SAT score send fees and we also had to send College transcripts to most too since my D had taken classes while in high school, even though they show up on her HS transcripts. Plan on $100 average total fees per school, plus travel, coaching (local or national), headshots, etc. Easily $5000 minimum for this process now. Cost could be higher if you have to fly v. drive to auditions.
We are in the many thousands of dollars with application and pre-screen fees, bus tickets, hotel reservation, uber, coaching, headshots, transcript/SAT/CSS fees, gas, etc. Start saving now!
Thanks for these responses. It looks likes everyone asks for a different amount at a different time in the process. This is sure getting expensive. @toowonderful Wonder why the cost increased so much so soon at NYU. As far as the others, I am not sure I understand and would question the ethics of requiring money before knowing if your kid even passes the prescreen. At least at NYU you can do the live audition for $200. Are these fees justified by covering the travel cost? Seems that if you audition on campus the fee should be less. But what do I know? Get good advice from a teacher, counselor or coach to shorten your list and audition for less schools. Or get a waver. Those are excellent suggestions! Thanks, guys
One way we saved money is I enrolled two years ahead of time in a hotel and airline credit card and accumulated points. Southwest (if it serves your area) gives 50,000 miles just for signing upā¦others airlines/hotels offer similar. We were able to have travel costs covered for two of our on campus auditions that way. Unifieds is a way to save money but some schools require on campus auditions.
At the end of this process I think I will add up all the college application/audition and travel costs, just out of curiosity. Iām sure we are on the low end (13 auditions with five of them at Chicago Unifieds, no professional headshots, no prescreens, drive to all auditions), but still. Or maybe I donāt want to know. @-)
^^^our āfeesā have increased significantly from the first time we did went through this process (current MT senior). More prescreens (and fees) and the audition/application fees have really increased. We have only driven to auditions but spent almost a week in Chicago for Unifieds - not an inexpensive proposition.
I donāt know how much we have spent but it is definitely well into the thousands if counting the travel. I stopped keeping track because it was overwhelming. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I believe we will have spent what my husband and I spent on a full yr of tuition, room and board by the time that we are finished!
@belleforbroadway I think your comparison to the full year of tuition is probably pretty spot on. Thatās how I told my husband to look at it last year - to consider it an extra year of tuition for this particular college pursuit. But it could be worse, I read an article today on the cost of raising an elite figure skater and by comparison MT is a bargain! : )
All this talk of fees got me to thinkingā¦the money involved in this application/audition process is indeed rather mind blowing. A typical student does not apply to 12 + schools. Between the app fee, any prescreen fee, fees to sent SAT/ACT scores & at some point AP scores & any dual enrollment transcripts from Comm Colleges, money for dance clothing and audition attire, shoes, etc, travel fees with hotel/airline/gas, etc, food while traveling, lost work time for travel & costs involved in child care for siblings if needed, I mean wow. Not ti mention the extras like summer ptograms for ātrainingā & acting/dance/voice classes and lessons and Lord I havenāt even touched on a coach.
Now think about the student/family you may know that cannot afford even half of this. they are out there to be sure. I mean we are not wealthy people & we have done some crazy sacrificing for this pursuit. But what if it simply isnāt in the cards? It makes me sad to think of that student who cannot afford any of it or afford to go to enough auditions to get into an MT school. If you truly want MT you cant just go anywhere. You cant go to comm college for it. My kid is not at an expensive school but college is expensive no matter where you are.
anyway not to be a bummer but I think about this once in awhile.
Yeah I was that student whoās family couldnāt afford it, but I took a gap year and got a job working 35-40 hours every week and paid for it, plus Coaching from MTCA, Not easy but if you want to do it bad enough there is a way
NYU was $100 for the materials upload and audition. No other fees were requested. CMU was $200. My D insisted that she was not going to let me pay that just for an audition pre-screen. Love her for that! This process is all very expensive: 1) You pay for the application fees at each school. 2) You pay to send your SATs or ACT scores to each school 3) You pay for the FASFA and sending your FASFA results to each school; 4) You pay for prescreens 5) You pay for CSS profiles for each school that needs one (another financial form). 5) You may have a separate audition fee if you pass the pre-screens.
And NON of this is refundable! We just finished our last auditions last Saturday! It was a LONG process! And now coomes the really hard part - the waiting!!!
@Fergie978 I am so sorry for you and others. This system is flawed