College costs are exorbitant, and I’m not even talking about the tuition.

That’s right, I’m only referring to the process of applying to college.

Most people apply to 6-9 schools, and the fees to apply to each school add up.

Take a high-achieving student from SoCal, we’ll call her Jane. Jane comes from a middle-class family, and her family income does not qualify for any fee waivers.

Let’s say Jane plans to apply to 7 schools―3 safety, 3 match, and 2 reach. The 3 safety schools are Cal State, and each of those cost $55 to apply. The 3 match schools are UC, and each of those cost $70 to apply to. And finally, the two reach are say, Ivy, which costs about $80 a pop. The total to apply to all of these schools is $535. Whoa.

That’s a lot of cash for just a shot at these schools. It would kind of suck paying $80 for a rejection letter, wouldn’t it? Yet that’s the unsure nature of college admissions. You just don’t know, so you apply to lots of places.

But wait! That’s not all! Excuse me for sounding like an infomercial.

SAT scores (which are required by all but few) cost $11.25 to send to each college. So for 7 schools, it would cost $78.75. Plus, don’t forget that you have to actually take that SAT test, which will run you another $54.50. And that’s assuming that you don’t buy any prep books and score just what you wanted on your first try.

And then there’s your transcript. Which if you send online, which is the most preferred option by college and the counseling office(YLHS uses this website called Parchment), it costs $3.25 per transcript sent. Multiply $3.25 by 7 and et voila, that’s another $22.75.

So add them all up now. $535+$78.75+$54.50+$22.75= $691. That’s six hundred and ninety-one dollars. *Whistles* That’s a tidy sum.

Is it worth it? Let’s hope so.