Hello! I am attempting to transfer and I am confused about official transcripts. I know that in high school we just had to submit our official transcript to colleges only after we were accepted. In addition, the official transcript was free and there was a waiver applied for my high school.
I am now using the Common App to apply for transfer. Most colleges offer space in the documents section to submit transcripts, but I assume that is for unofficial transcripts. However, they still ask for our official high school transcript and official transcripts for all colleges attended.
For me, that means I need to send four transcripts: one for my high school, two for dual credit (despite those credits being included on both my high school transcript and current institution transcript, but whatever), and one for my current institution. Those fees total almost $30!
I was planning to apply to about 20 schools since I have a Common App fee waiver and want to have a lot of options. However, I cannot justify paying $600 just to send my transcripts. My high school is already willing to help and send my transcript for free.
After reading a few articles, I feel very confused. Do I need to send my transcripts to each individual institution (costing $600), or do I just need to send them directly to the Common App? That would be a much more feasible option and would be completely doable.