Hi all!
I’m a junior currently attending a US High School. Recently I asked my guidance counselor about the AP Fee Waivers, and she said she could not offer fee waiver to me because I am an international student and she does not have proof about my financial circumstances. However, another friend of mine that lives in another state, who is also an international student, did receive fee waivers for not only APs, but also SAT and ACT. I wonder if it was just a school policy thing? If I could show my guidance counselor my financial papers to prove that my family’s income is way lower the eligibility standard of NACCA, do you think I could still get the fee waivers? Or should I contact the College Board directly ( somehow I have a hunch that this won’t work )?
I need fee waivers for the AP Tests ( taking three this year ), SAT, ACT and college applications. I heard that for college app we could directly write to the admission officers to request fee waivers (?!) I’m planning to apply for 5-8 schools, so the total amount of the application fees will be pretty scary for me lol.
P/s: I know that being an international student who needs a HUGE financial aid package might limit my chances at some schools. Some of my reach schools are in the Ivies, so hopefully with their enormous budget, they won’t take my financial circumstances as an important factor. I have 35 ACT w/o writing, 2240 SAT ( planning to take it again next year ), hopefully glowing recs from 2 teachers that know me really well. I also take like 8/9 AP/ advanced courses offered at my school and have ok ECs, no national prize or SIEMENs, AMC 10 winner at my school only, but I do take part in many clubs at school, volunteer, play sports, hold leadership position in one of my clubs, and do internship at a company over the summer.
Thank you so much, guys! I appreciate every advice.
Why can’t you provide proof of your financials? Is this a public school? How are you in the USA? Visa etc? State?
Last time I did not ask my GC if I could show her the proof of my financials. I just asked her if I could get the fee waiver for the tests. She answered me right away that I could not because they have a system to determine if the student is eligible or not ( through Federal School Lunch Reduced price or NACCA’s income stuffs) and they cannot verify my eligibility because I’m not in those programs and my parents are living and working in another country. Maybe next time I will ask her if I could show my financials to prove how poor I am lol. My school is a Catholic private school. I have F1 Visa, and I’m in Nebraska.
Who pays for your school?
Nang…the fee waivers are only provided to very low income students. You must provide documentation of your finances. Also, I thought the college board did not typically grant fee waivers to international students for any purpose.
In any event, where is your family? Do they live here also? Are they employed?
Also, start thinking and saving now…because when the time comes you will also need to pay to submit your SAT scores to colleges, and for those Ivies, you will need to pay to submit the CSS Profile.
Thanks guys. @Alfonsia my parents pay for my tuition? The school’s tuition is not really high so it’s affordable. Sorry if I misunderstood what you’re asking about, but that’s how I interpreted your question 
@thumper1 My whole family live in my home country in Asia, and they are employed, but they don’t make much ( typically $12000/ year altogether - dad + mom ). I did not know that I have to pay to submit the CSS profile :o Yeah I know there are lots of fees to cover during the application process, that’s why I’m trying to seek for any possible financial aids/ fee waivers. But if they are not available to international students, I guess I have no other choice apart from paying for those expensive tests.
if you are in this school on some kind of catholic subsidy then you probably need to approach the
committee that helps pay tuition of needy overseas students, it seems that the counsellor should be on top of that. I don’t know what a cheap catholic high school tuition looks like in Nebraska?
If you are truly a needy student then talk with the principal of your school and see what there is to help. If you are just paying normal tuition rates then it won’t be a need issue that I can see. Needy American kids don’t pay to go to privates but they might get scholarships if they qualify.
Maybe your school policy (a private fee-based school) doesn’t allow for fee waivers. I would be more concerned about paying all of the upcoming fees at the colleges-test reports, housing deposits, enrollment fees, etc.
@Alfonsia @"aunt bea" Thank you, your advice are helpful to me 
Well I might have to talk to my counselor again, or even my principle, and figure out what I should do then. Btw in my school, the tuition for Catholics is about 2000$/ year, and for non-catholics (me) it’s 5000$, so it is certainly not as expensive as other private schools ( which have a tuition of around 30000-40000$ ).
For your college applications, look into the Questbridge program for the National College Match. It is open to international students who attend HS in the US. If you are selected as a Finalist, then all your college application fees are waived for the Partner Colleges, all which are extremely good colleges and some Ivys. Application is available late summer.
http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/ncm-who-should-apply
Note: if you are named a finalist you can apply to be matched with up to 8 colleges, which is like ED for 8. Not all the partner colleges will give the 100% financing through the match to international students. But you have the option to skip the match and apply RD with free applications through the program.
There is a Questbridge subforum here too.
Also as a Jr, I think the College Prep scholarship is open to you, the application is available now.