But the reality is it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what you’ll spend for college.
And if you’re chasing merit and you apply to the right schools, you’ll find it’ll all be worth it.
4 Likes
Same w/D24. She’s on topic #3 now and has finally settled on it, said the other day that she’s almost done.
2 Likes
My d18 graduated in 3 years with her AP credits. So those tests more than paid for themselves. I know at lots of private schools the AP may only be used for placement but at a lots public universities they are well worth it.
4 Likes
For some families, not all.
1 Like
My daughter remains a bit stuck. She has a reasonable list for regular decision with reaches, and targets that are affordable without loans. She even has a safety that will probably be affordable without a loan as well as a some reaches and a couple of safeties that will require loans but are still on the list just in case their net calculators are pessimistic.
She will apply early somewhere likely one of the restricted early action schools. Don’t know where and she seems not to know either, but she is working on the supplements for all the possibilities and I guess that she’ll decide when she decides. Or maybe she’ll use a dartboard or pull a name out of a hat…
3 Likes
Sending you words of support. I also have a kid with portfolios as part of the process. When that common app essay is finally done and you see the confetti 
for that first application being submitted, you will want to break out in dance to “What a Feeling”. It will feel like a weight is lifted! Keep looking forward to that feeling that WILL happen between now and maybe 3-5 days before those applications are due 
.
2 Likes
If you have that significant of need, you can ask for or qualify for waivers.
If you are applying to so many - it’s a choice - and if the goal is selection or choice, it’s worthwhile.
If it’s APs it’s to waive credits at a low price if you apply to the right schools. And again it’s a choice to take the tests.
I’m not minimizing anyone’s finances - I’m simply noting in the overall scheme it’s not a lot.
People have choices. They can ask for help or if the cost is onerous they can apply to one or two schools.
You can think I’m out of touch but I’m realistic.
I wish your family luck in whatever you decide to do.
As I understand it, other posters said their high schools will only provide fee waivers for AP tests if families are eligible for a free/reduced priced lunches. That is an extremely low bar (185% of poverty).
I don’t understand what the above means. It is not a choice if one’s high school demands that students register for the test or they will drop the kid from the course. I thought that was the topic at hand, public schools that force students to pay unaffordable test fees in order to enroll in or receive credit for certain courses.
I don’t know whether you are out of touch or realistic. I was merely replying to the statement that “$700 is a drop in the bucket compared to what you’ll spend on college.” Seven hundred dollars is not a drop in the bucket compared to what I spend on college. It is half of my daughter’s COA at college for the entire year. We would not be able to afford to enroll in more than one or two AP courses if my kid attended a high school that forced all students to take the test as a condition of their enrollment in the course. We also would not qualify for a fee waiver under the rules that posters mentioned since the ceiling for reduced lunches is a gross income of 185% of the federal poverty guideline --note that this is lower than the amount that qualifies families for a maximum pell grant.
Luckily the topic is irrelevant to my kids so far since neither have attended a school that offers AP courses. I am just saying that the claim that $700 is a drop in the tuition bucket is not actually true for some families. In fact, I may have misunderstood your earlier posts, but I would have thought my statement applies to your family as well. I was under the impression that both your kids had full rides to their colleges which means that you are probably paying even less than I am! If they have a full ride, how is $700 a drop in the bucket?
4 Likes
Many colleges & universities will give course credit for passing CLEP exams, which you can take for free by signing up for online classes through Modern States. D24 has taken a couple of these and it’s worked out well so far. Not everywhere she’s applying will give credit for CLEP exams, but several of them do.
Just wanted to mention it in case you weren’t aware of it. I had no clue about this until I’d heard about it on a podcast. A lot of people don’t know the program exists.
2 Likes
For some. IB tests cost me more than the college kid has this semester. I’m any case it’s still a lot of money to put out. It will save some classes in the long run most likely but it’s still a lot.
1 Like
Thanks! That is very cool (and useful) to know. I remember you mentioning CLEP in another thread. To be fair to the OP, I think that I sounded more adamant about the topic than I feel in my post. I’m not personally concerned about the cost of AP tests --D24 is not taking any and I don’t think she is particularly interested in graduating early from college. Obviously I am worried about college costs overall, but my goal for her is to get to spend 4 full years in a residential college if we can make it work (crossing fingers). If she were to do AP or CLEP exams, it would be just to place into higher level classes not to earn credits.
I am mostly just offended on principle that there are high schools that force students to register (and pay for) AP tests in order to enroll in the course in the first place. I don’t understand the justification for such policies. My impression from other posters is that at some schools there are not many non-AP courses at certain levels. Again, I am just basing this impression on what I’ve read here. But if a kid is ready for calculus or Spanish 5 or something, and there are no calculus courses or advanced Spanish courses at their school except the AP versions, it seems crazy to me that a school would refuse to let a kid enroll in the appropriate class unless the family could afford the cost of the test.
Update on my earlier Indiana post: we subsequently learned that no additional essays are needed because we submitted through the Common App. Phew!
Next up: S24 works on a couple of “why us” essays.
3 Likes
That is exactly right. S is in the right classes and taking the test is required and paying for it is required. But the test is unlikely to get him anything since he will also spend 4 years in college and the credits will be used only for placement. And most of them won’t even do that since he may not take higher level classes in college.
1 Like
I agree. We can choose to take the test or not. We do have to pay for it, but there is no requirement about taking it.
There is no requirement to take AP tests at my kid’s school but the teachers really frown upon the kids who don’t take them and make them do extra work like a final that the others don’t have to take. My kid basically feels like she has to take the APs.
The confetti thing is so amusing and oddly satisfying!
1 Like
Thank you for the words of support!
Finally saw the confetti yesterday. Getting the common app essay done made it so she could submit 5 apps (all of which need additional essays or portfolio submissions once she gets a portal).
The portfolios add such additional stress, because waiting until the last minute becomes a very nebulous thing…she cannot submit the portfolios until she has a portal, and at some places the deadline for both the application and the portfolio are the same date, even though it takes days for the portal to be activated (NC State recommends leaving 2 weeks). It’s a trap for kids like D24, but I know she is doing her best and I have to believe that things will settle out how they need to.
3 Likes
Schools can apply for fee reductions in an alternative way (besides the free/reduced-priced lunch scheme).
In addition your state might have further assistance:
And here one of the alternative criteria all schools can opt for:
If your school prefers to use another method for determining which students qualify for AP Exam fee reductions, any of the following criteria are allowed:
- The student is enrolled in a federal, state, or local program that aids students from low-income families (e.g., Federal TRIO programs such as Upward Bound).
- The student’s family receives public assistance.
- The student resides in federally subsidized public housing or a foster home or is unhoused.
- The student is a ward of the state or an orphan.
I think they were referring to the fact that at the right colleges for the cost of an AP test you might be able to waive the need to take certain college courses – thus needing to pay for fewer credits overall to graduate. So effectively, the AP fee is a “low price college credit” for such colleges.
(The meaning got a bit mangled, by using “school” and “college” interchangebly.)
4 Likes
S24 submitted his first app last night. His wonderful GC reviewed all his supplemental essays and gave him the thumbs up. I feel good that’s he’s gotten rolling (finally).
5 Likes
I understand your point, but it sounds as if it is up to the particular school or school district. So the school administration has to be willing to use an alternative criteria.
I would also argue that the eligibility criteria listed above are similar to the free/reduced price lunch threshold in that those programs target families close to the poverty line. If waivers only go to families who are unhoused, a ward of the state, in public housing, receiving public assistance etc, it eliminates a lot of middle and low-income families who would not have enough money for AP fees but still make more than those thresholds. I do not know about the federal trio program or upward bound so I can’t say who those programs target, but it seems like an unnecessary hoop to have to be part of one of those programs if you want to enroll in an AP course.