<p>I'm applying as a freshman to 18 schools (13 applications) and my total estimated cost will reach around $1,370. This includes application fees, sending high school transcripts, sending community college summer classes transcripts, as well as SAT scores. </p>
<p>(Just FYI this is affordable for us and my parents are completely fine with it)
But I was wondering, how much do people spend on college applications on average? </p>
<p>I’d say that you’re way over the average for spendings on college apps. However, I am planning to do a similar thing so as long as your parents can afford it, I don’t see why we shouldn’t apply to many schools (assuming the quality of apps are high). From what I gather, people seemed to apply to around 2 safeties, 3 -4 matches and 1-2 reaches </p>
<p>Well, you’ve seen the average cost of an application (about $75) plus the cost of sending in test scores, so multiply that times the number of colleges students apply to. You’re on the very high end for number of applications, and you might want to re-think applying to so many places – it seems like a way to defer making some decisions about what you’re looking for in a college – but it’s not a big deal since your parents don’t mind. So I will say you’re paying more than most people, since most students submit between 3 and 7 applications – figure roughly $250 to $500. My daughter submitted 11 applications, but several of those she did not have to pay a fee for because she was offered some free applications due to NMSF and intent to apply for financial aid. However…when you think of the entire college admissions process, I’ve read that some really rich people are spending $40,000 and up for special college counselors to help prepare their kids’ applications, so if you include those fees then the sky is the limit. </p>