Research · College applications · October 2026
What is the application fee at the 100 most-applied-to colleges?
As of October 2026: Application fees at the 100 most-applied-to colleges run from $0 to $90. Stanford University charges the most at $90. Harvard University and Duke University charge $85, and 5 of the 100 colleges charge nothing at all.
The table holds the undergraduate application fee each college reported for 2023-24, and it does not show fee waivers, which colleges grant to families who qualify.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
The findings, in plain English
The top fees sit at $90 and $85. Stanford University charges $90. Harvard University charges $85. So do Duke University and Columbia University in the City of New York. So does the University of Southern California. The same $85 holds at Syracuse University. It holds at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It holds at North Carolina State University at Raleigh and at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Every University of California campus charges $80.
Florida's public universities are the cheapest big names here. The University of Florida charges $30. So do Florida State University and the University of Central Florida. So does the University of South Florida. The University of Alabama charges $40. So does Northern Arizona University. These are some of the biggest applicant pools in the table, and the lowest fees on it.
A few well-known colleges charge nothing. Baylor University charges $0. So do DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, Grand Canyon University and Southern New Hampshire University. That is 5 of the 100 colleges here. A free form makes it cheap to hold a backup your kid would really attend.
Application fees at the most-applied-to colleges
Ordered from the highest fee to the lowest.
The undergraduate application fee each college reported in the federal 2023-24 institutional file; a college's own application page is the current price. All 100 colleges reported a figure. The fee is per campus where a system charges per campus, and fee waivers, enrollment deposits and score-sending fees are not in this file.
What the fee covers
The fee pays for one review of one application, for one term. It is charged whether the answer is yes or no. Sending a test score or a transcript costs extra.
The table lists one fee per campus. Some systems charge per campus. Each University of California campus charges $80, so a family pays again for every campus the student adds. That is the line families miss when they add campuses late in the fall.
Fee waivers are the part the table cannot show
Almost every college here waives the fee for families who qualify. The Common App, the Coalition form and the University of California form each hold the waiver request inside them. The usual grounds are family income and free or reduced-price school lunch. A waiver already given for the SAT or ACT counts too.
A waiver is requested on the application itself, so there is nothing to pay up front and nothing to claim back later. The fees in the table are the full price, not what every family pays.
What a family should do with this
Price the list before you set it. Put the fee next to each college your kid picked. Add it up, and look at the essays each one needs beside it. If the total feels too high, start with the waiver request inside the form. Do not start by cutting colleges.
Then use the cheap ones on purpose. A $0 or $30 form is a low-cost way to hold a real option. That beats a ninth long-shot college with a fresh set of essays.
Questions parents ask
Which college on this list has the highest application fee?
Stanford University charges $90.
Are there colleges with no application fee?
Baylor University charges $0. So do DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, Grand Canyon University and Southern New Hampshire University.
Can the application fee be waived?
A waiver is requested on the application itself, so there is nothing to pay up front and nothing to claim back later.
Method & sources: The source is the federal IPEDS institutional characteristics file for 2023-24, which records the undergraduate application fee each college reported. Rows are the 100 colleges with the most first-year applicants in the federal admissions file for the fall 2023 entering class, ordered from the highest fee to the lowest, and every one of them reported a fee. A fee can change from year to year, so a college's own application page is the current price. Fee waivers, enrollment deposits and the cost of sending scores or transcripts are not in this file.
This brief as data: /research/application-fees-100-colleges.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
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