<p>I am not using the fee waivers because the Collegeboard still doesn’t even understand how to use them themselves.</p>
<p>I am not using the fee waivers because the Collegeboard still doesn’t even understand how to use them themselves.</p>
<p>I just heard back from my daughter’s GC, and he said he found a way through the Common App website for GCs to approve non-financial-need based waivers. He said he’s happy to do it. He’s interested in seeing the package, as I’m guessing my daughter may be one of very few in her class of 865 kids who got one. It does sound very random, but thanks to whatever power that got us on the list!</p>
<p>Beth</p>
<p>I heard back from the GC today too. She said not to worry and congratulations on the waivers!</p>
<p>I also received a package with the fee waivers, and was ecstatic that I might be able to use them, because I would normally not qualify for fee waivers. However, to be safe, I called the College Board today and was dismayed by their reply. According to the assistant, you may only send the fee waivers if you would normally qualify for fee waivers, (i.e. the qualifications listed for fee waivers in the common app). He said that they have no way of knowing what the students’ financial situations are, so they send them out just in case some students may qualify to use them. Please, if you haven’t sent them yet or you don’t believe me, call the College Board number listed in the package. I was horribly upset by this news, as my family is in an extremely hard financial situation right now, and I promptly informed the College Board Representative of my opinion on their not sending specific requirements for the use of their Realize Your College Potential Fee Waivers. Hopefully, this package will not be as misleading in future years.</p>
<p>Well isn’t that just the perfect sort of mixed-up, contradictory information that I would expect to get about something important. Some people say they are only for people in need, while others state that the counselors have given them the go ahead! Anyone have a link with some definitive information other than the one that was given out?</p>
<p><a href=“https://appsupport.commonapp.org/link/portal/33011/33013/Article/1622/College-Board-Fee-Waiver[/url]”>https://appsupport.commonapp.org/link/portal/33011/33013/Article/1622/College-Board-Fee-Waiver</a></p>
<p>Noticed this in the help margins on common app today, I’m not sure if it’s new or not but it says this:
“The Common Application criteria are identical to the criteria used by NACAC and College Board. If you qualify for a College Board fee waiver, you qualify for the Common Application fee waiver. If you already selected and acknowledged that you qualify for the fee waiver, you will not be prompted for a payment when submitting your application.”</p>
<p>there is also this link:
<a href=“https://appsupport.commonapp.org/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=33013&task=knowledge&questionID=911[/url]”>https://appsupport.commonapp.org/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=33013&task=knowledge&questionID=911</a>
which says:</p>
<p>“If you received a college application fee waiver from the College Board or NACAC, you should still answer the questions presented in the Common App Fee Waiver section. Doing so will help all of your colleges to identify you as a fee waiver eligible applicant.”</p>
<p>The purpose of the fee waivers is to get high achieving students to apply to colleges they wouldn’t consider without them. The schools in question tend to be quite elite ie have wealthy families’ kids, so “bottom 25% income” may well be $80,000 or include families that do not qualify for NACAC fee waivers.
Mimiw10: if your family is in a hard financial situation, THOSE WAIVERS ARE MEANT FOR YOU.
The reality is that the fee waiver qualifications in the CommonApp are the NACAC criteria <em>which are not the same as the ones the schools involved in that program have decided to use.</em>
And the Common App is in so much trouble that I bet they are not thinking of fixing that. Perhaps you should call CollegeBoard and tell them to call CommonApp and tell them to fix that problem too. :)</p>
<p>If you got the packet, it means you were identified as shooting below your ability in your college choices and being URM, or first-gen, or from an immigrant background, or low-income. Check the box in the CommonApp, you’re fine.</p>
<p>I posted this link on another thread but it’s such a good article I’m posting here so that it isn’t missed. </p>
<p>[College</a> Application Fee Waivers: Just ask. | 60second Recap®](<a href=“http://www.60secondrecap.com/college-application-fee-waivers/]College”>http://www.60secondrecap.com/college-application-fee-waivers/)</p>
<p>Yes, if you think you need you need a waiver, just ask.</p>
<p>I just talked to someone at the College Board who said, “If you don’t meet the financial qualifications for the fee waivers, don’t use them.”</p>
<p>Then she asked me if DS qualifies for free or reduced lunch. Evidently that is the sort of income that meets the eligibility for fee waivers.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s in the article. Everyone should read it.</p>
<p>This article focuses on the “regular” fee waivers, not the “targeted” booklets that have been sent out by College Board. Students who have received these “vouchers” should use them. It’s different for the “regular” college board/NACAC waivers, which require either free/reduced lunch OR living in public housing OR being a ward of the state, OR… (etc)</p>
<p>MYOS1634: I called about the booklets sent out and that is not what the person at College Board told me. She said they sent them to a number of people but they shouldn’t be used unless the child qualifies financially. Have you talked to someone there who said otherwise?</p>
<p>Wait, maybe I’m confused…the article does talk about SAT waivers. What am I not getting here? Thanks.</p>
<p>MYOS1634 I agree with you.
There is an explanatory letter that accompanies the waivers and NO WHERE does it state you need to have financial hardship to use them.</p>
<p>It does explain the agreement the College Board entered into with CERTAIN colleges with whom you may use the waivers. Those SPECIFIC colleges are included in the accompanying booklet with the addresses of the admissions offices.</p>
<p>A committee somewhere developed and instituted this program! How can anyone be at fault for using something sent to them with detailed instructions on use?</p>
<p>MYOS1634: I called about the booklets sent out and that is not what the person at College Board told me. She said they sent them to a number of people but they shouldn’t be used unless the child qualifies financially. Have you talked to someone there who said otherwise?</p>
<p>That makes no sense. Someone who already qualifies financially doesn’t need the booklet in order to get the fee waiver. Why would the College Board go the trouble of creating and mailing the booklets to students who already qualify and can get a fee waiver without receiving a booklet in the mail? And based on the posts in this thread, why would so many of the booklets be sent to applicants who don’t qualify for a fee waiver based on the financial criteria?</p>
<p>Not sure if this will help anyone but I emailed Cornell asking about specifically these and this is what they said
“If you are eligible for a fee waiver, you should complete the Common App Fee waiver box and submit the College Board College Application Fee Form. The Common App will not submit until you have either paid the fee or asked for a waiver. Our office will verify waiver eligibility when you submit the form to our office.”</p>
<p>After I told my counselor he said I was allowed to use them, as long as I mail them in.</p>
<p>This is a new initiative by top colleges - SPECIFIC colleges - that want to diversify their applicant pool. Students who met THEIR criteria received a booklet with vouchers to encourage these students to apply to these specific colleges - so essentially the students who received the vouchers have been targeted so that they apply to 8 colleges on the list.
This is NOT the “NACAC waiver” program for low-income students applying to any college of their choice. This is only for targeted students who are thus encouraged to apply to colleges for which they are potentially qualified and which they wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
The students have been targeted for a variety of reasons, only one of which is “being low income”. A common trait between all students who were targeted is that, based on what they filled out before they took the SAT, they should aim higher than what they’re currently thinking of, and these vouchers aim at helping them thinking of themselves as “X College material”, since it’s a no-risk proposition: they can apply for free with the CommonApp, even if they hadn’t thought about it. The colleges get new applicants (from under represented regions, for example) and can increase their diversity on various counts, while the students get an opportunity at an amazing education, often with excellent financial aid. Win-win.
Students who got the targeted vouchers are meant to use them.</p>
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<p>I think a lot of kids don’t know they can apply for fee waivers. Also the CB waiver gave you 4 colleges, this one gives 8?</p>
<p>The program is apparently a College Board program, I started a topic on it when the NY Times did a story on it last month:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1556782-low-income-students-considering-college-nudge-aim-high.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1556782-low-income-students-considering-college-nudge-aim-high.html</a></p>
<p>essentially the students who received the vouchers have been targeted so that they apply to 8 colleges on the list</p>
<p>Is the list of 8 colleges the same for every student that received the voucher booklet? If so, what are the colleges?</p>