College Application Fees 2026–27: Stanford Charges $100, and 609 Colleges Charge US Applicants Nothing

Applying is cheaper than the famous names make it look. Of the 1,126 colleges on the Common App's 2026–27 requirements grid, 609 charge US applicants nothing. Among the most selective, Stanford charges the most, $100, followed by Harvard at $95 and the University of Chicago at $90.

The fees below are what each college entered in the grid, which was last updated September 25, 2026; we read it on October 19. To pick out the most selective colleges we use federal admit rates from College Scorecard.

Eleven of the most selective colleges charge nothing

Eleven colleges that admit fewer than one applicant in five don't charge an application fee: Bates, Colby, Colorado College, Davidson, Denison, Grinnell, Middlebury, Tulane and Wellesley, along with Minerva University and the Air Force Academy. Fourteen more that admit fewer than 35% are also free, including Carleton, Smith, Skidmore, Reed, Macalester, Bryn Mawr, Kenyon, Oberlin College, Hillsdale, Trinity College in Connecticut and Trinity University in Texas.

That's worth knowing before you trim a list to save money. Cutting a free college saves nothing.

What the most selective colleges charge

Sixty colleges on the grid admit fewer than one applicant in five. The 49 that charge a fee ask between $50 and $100, and the most common amounts are $75 (15 colleges) and $85 (11). Vanderbilt, at $50, is the cheapest of the ones that charge.

At the middle of that range, $75, ten of these applications come to $750 before you've sent a single score report. Swap three of them for colleges from the free list and the total drops to $525.

Some charge international applicants more, and a few charge them less

At 154 colleges on the grid, international applicants pay a higher fee than US applicants. Several large public universities do this: the University of Illinois Chicago charges $70 and $170, South Carolina $70 and $100, UT Austin and Texas A&M $75 and $90, Georgia $70 and $85, Georgia Tech $75 and $85, and Iowa $55 and $80.

Twelve go the other way. Case Western Reserve charges US applicants $75 and international applicants nothing; Colgate, Gettysburg and Ithaca charge US applicants $60, and Fairfield and Emerson $65, and all five charge international applicants nothing.

The Common App fee waiver doesn't work everywhere

The Common App has its own fee waiver, and most colleges that charge a fee take it. Of the 517 that charge US applicants, 421 accept the waiver from anyone. Seventy-six accept it only from US applicants, and 20 don't accept it at all.

The US-only group includes Boston College and Georgia Tech, along with several big public universities: Illinois, Maryland, Ohio State, Texas A&M, UT Austin, Georgia, Clemson, Tennessee and Michigan State. Most of the 20 that don't take it are universities outside the US; the University of Arizona is one of the exceptions.

If you're applying from abroad, the list is longer, because some colleges charge only international applicants. At 119 colleges on the grid, an international applicant pays a fee the Common App waiver won't cover: 90 accept the waiver only from US applicants, and 29 don't accept it. If you need a waiver at one of these, ask the college directly what it accepts instead. The grid only records whether the Common App's waiver works.

The cheap part and the expensive part

Application fees are the cheapest decision on your list. The expensive one is where a binding Early Decision goes. Put your whole list in and see, free, what each college published about its early round and where your score sits. The answer across your whole list is the paid document.

Application fees and fee waiver acceptance are from the Common App's 2026–27 first-year deadlines, fees and requirements grid (updated September 25, 2026), read October 19, 2026. Admit rates used to group colleges are federal figures from College Scorecard.