Hi guys, how are you? For those who don't know my name is Vitor Lacerda and welcome to my channel. If you don't know the content, I talk about college application to study abroad and I also show a little bit of my life there so if you want to know about this, subscribe here on the channel and leave your thumbs up to help here and let's go to the video!
Well, in the last video I spoke realistically how much it costs to apply for college abroad, because the United States is a capitalist country, so definitely they would get money from the application. So it becomes very expensive, more than $2000. So in today's video I will show you ways to save money on the application and you will not need to pay almost anything.
Then I go start over about the Common Application fee. This fee is the most expensive one and there is a very easy way actually to not pay that fee to send application to any college. In the Common Application there's a session in which you can put reasons that you would ask for a fee waiver.
You will select the option that your Counselor, who is the person who will send the documents from the school, saying that they can say you have a financial hardship and can't pay Common App fee And basically in one click, you will not need to pay the Common App fee This is the easiest fee to avoid, and this will already save a lot in your application. The second one is to send the test scores. In the previous video I explained that the companies responsible for these tests charge a fee to send scores for each college you're applying to.
But usually some college accept self-report scores, meaning you can send your scores yourself by email. Other colleges will ask your counselor to email these tests, which gives a little bit of work because you have to sit with your school principal or the person who is responsible for the school, to send the scores to the colleges that you are applying, but it's worth the effort, right? because saving several dollars in the process is always good!
Usually in the part that explain about tests on the website of each college, it's already written if it accepts self-report, or if your counselor needs to send for them. So I always recommend you to look at the website first. If you do not find on the site, looking carefully, you can email the colleges, saying that your situation is difficult and asking if you can self-report those scores.
And usually, they will let you do it I sent self-report scores to almost all colleges. Ah, they just ask you to send official score if you are accepted at the college and you will study there, then they will need the official one. So, in the case you would pay only for one college at the end of the process, after you knew you were accepted Which is much better, right guys?
Oh, and also when you take the SAT you have the possibility to send score to four colleges without paying anything, but in the case you will have to send before you know your own scores But I recommend you send it to those colleges that do not accept self-report, so before doing the SAT already look whether the college accepts self-report because the ones that not accept, you can put among those four that you can send for free. So it also helps to save in the process. And there are also preparatory programs like BRASA pre, Prep Estudar Fora.
They offer financial aid, but they select very few people per year to participate in these mentoring programs. I already explained here in another video talking about BRASA pre and in next videos I'll tell you a little bit other mentoring programs that help in application process. Good, the other fee is the CSS Profile fee.
So, colleges and CSS Profile itself says that international students are not allowed to get fee waiver, but I sent email to colleges talking about my situation, asking if I could have a fee waiver and many of them gave it to me! So I saved a lot in the CSS Profile. Other colleges have a second option, which is to send the ISFAA, which is the International Student Financial Aid Application, which is basically a CSS profile, that is made on paper and you can email it to the colleges, for the Office of Financial Aid.
So instead of you pay to send CSS Profile, you will send a pdf with the same information by email and it will substitute the CSS Profile. So the tip is: believe in the power of email because sending emails asking for information, you will save a lot on the application! But always check the website first because colleges don't like receiving email that you can find information easily on the website So search carefully on the website and then send the email if you can't find it, and even that the colleges say not to fee waiver, if you send an email explaining the situation, they might offer you this fee waiver.
So I ended up applying for more than 60 university in the United States because I got several fee waivers, so I wasn't paying anything to apply for more. But sure, I focused on my main ones that I had until January 1st, which is usually the date they ask to send the application and after that, I realize I was not paying because I was self-reporting my grades, I had fee waivers So why not apply for more colleges? And that's what I did.
So it turned out well, I went to Stetson University in Florida and I'm very happy there! And in a future video I will explain a little bit of how I made my College List and tips for setting up yours. So the amount you will need pay in the application will be the fee the tests because as an international student we cannot receive the fee waiver of the test itself, then you would have to pay the SAT want $ 64.
50, the SAT Subject which is $ 92 and the TOEFL, which is $ 215. But universities are accepting other English tests instead of TOEFL because $ 215 is a lot of money! So the Duolingo English Test, which is not the Duolingo app, is a test and several colleges are accepting it which is much cheaper than TOEFL, so I recommend you look and maybe if you are unable to pay for the TOEFL, build your College List in a way that all universities that you are applying accept Duolingo English Test because then you'll save a lot on your application And that was the video guys, I hope it have been useful to you, I think it was a lot because it saves money in the application.
It is such a primordial thing when the you do not have such a favorable condition so every dollar you save is awesome! great! I hope these tips can help you help.
If you have any other questions in the application you can DM me on Instagram @ovitorlacerda and also subscribe here on the channel because every week I'm posting video about studying abroad. So thank you guys, see you in the next video!
