Anybody else noticing a big increase in offers for no application fee? We have a 2015 and a 2017 so this is our second rodeo, and I do not remember it being offered at all the first time around. But just this week 2017 has gotten 3 mailings from colleges saying if he applies there will be no application fee.
The optimist in me thinks they must really want him. The cynic believes they want higher application rates so they can have lower admit rates. The realist thinks both may be true.
Go with the cynic. Many schools are offering them, sometimes if you use their application rather than the common app.
Trust the cynic:-)
Last year, my daughter received quite a few fee app waivers if she applied by certain dates. The more apps a college gets, the more selective it can be. If your kids a I terested, b all means apply and save that money. I reckon my D saved nearly $200 in app fees.
Agree…go with the cynic in you.
I agree that these are generally efforts to increase the number of applicants and play with the system. However, if an opportunity comes along to a school that we would consider, I see no harm in filing the free app. We did one for LIU-Post and my son is seriously considering the school, if we can afford it. S17 will be taking the ACT in September and we will use the free score tool to send the grades to the 4 schools he is most interested in/most likely to get into. That may help reduce the costs. As for AP scores, he has one test under his belt and is taking one or two more next year. I will use the free tool to send the results only to the school he intends to attend. He doesn’t have enough AP’s to really make a difference in his applications.
My older daughter (with an okay but not stellar GPA) applied to at least one college very early using its free application and I think she was motivated by the relatively early acceptance as she continued with the application process.