How much are college application fees at the 100 most-applied-to colleges?

As of November 2026: Application fees at the 100 most-applied-to US colleges range from $0 to $90 for a first-year applicant, and $75 is the most common fee. Stanford charges the most at $90, and five colleges charge nothing.

Stanford tops the list at $90, five colleges charge nothing, and every University of California campus charges $80.

By Nick Standlea, Test Prep Gurus. Figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

$90 is the top fee Stanford University charges $90. That is the highest application fee among the 100 most-applied-to US colleges.

$75 is the most common fee More colleges on the list charge $75 than any other amount. That group includes Michigan, Texas at Austin, Penn and Northwestern.

Five colleges charge $0 Grand Canyon, Southern New Hampshire, Loyola Chicago, Baylor and DePaul charge no application fee at all.

Application fees at the 100 most-applied-to US colleges

Every college below is one of the 100 most-applied-to US colleges. The list runs from the highest fee to the lowest.

College	State	Type	Applicants	Application fee
Stanford University	CA	Private nonprofit	53,733	$90
University of Southern California	CA	Private nonprofit	80,808	$85
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	57,902	$85
Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private nonprofit	57,613	$85
Harvard University	MA	Private nonprofit	56,937	$85
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	Public	50,424	$85
Duke University	NC	Private nonprofit	46,365	$85
Syracuse University	NY	Private nonprofit	42,089	$85
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	Public	40,049	$85
University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	145,903	$80
University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	130,771	$80
University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	125,910	$80
University of California-Irvine	CA	Public	121,101	$80
New York University	NY	Private nonprofit	113,578	$80
University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	Public	110,871	$80
University of California-Davis	CA	Public	94,637	$80
Boston University	MA	Private nonprofit	80,495	$80
University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	Public	68,845	$80
University of California-Merced	CA	Public	67,891	$80
Cornell University	NY	Private nonprofit	65,635	$80
University of California-Riverside	CA	Public	62,807	$80
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	62,428	$80
Yale University	CT	Private nonprofit	51,803	$80
University of Connecticut	CT	Public	46,645	$80
Boston College	MA	Private nonprofit	36,069	$80
Northeastern University	MA	Private nonprofit	96,631	$75
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	87,632	$75
The University of Texas at Austin	TX	Public	66,109	$75
University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private nonprofit	59,465	$75
University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	59,377	$75
University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	56,528	$75
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	52,377	$75
Northwestern University	IL	Private nonprofit	51,769	$75
Brown University	RI	Private nonprofit	51,316	$75
Texas A & M University-College Station	TX	Public	50,832	$75
University of Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit	38,631	$75
University of Delaware	DE	Public	37,690	$75
Texas State University	TX	Public	37,183	$75
University of North Texas	TX	Public	36,807	$75
Texas Tech University	TX	Public	34,020	$75
Tufts University	MA	Private nonprofit	34,003	$75
Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private nonprofit	33,707	$75
Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	32,240	$75
San Diego State University	CA	Public	82,800	$70
California State University-Long Beach	CA	Public	79,680	$70
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	Public	63,736	$70
University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	Public	63,505	$70
Clemson University	SC	Public	60,122	$70
California State University-Fullerton	CA	Public	48,591	$70
University of Miami	FL	Private nonprofit	48,286	$70
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	Public	45,775	$70
Fordham University	NY	Private nonprofit	43,663	$70
University of Georgia	GA	Public	43,419	$70
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	Public	43,347	$70
Princeton University	NJ	Private nonprofit	39,644	$70
Case Western Reserve University	OH	Private nonprofit	39,033	$70
Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private nonprofit	38,926	$70
San Jose State University	CA	Public	35,780	$70
James Madison University	VA	Public	35,750	$70
California State University-Los Angeles	CA	Public	32,748	$70
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	Public	85,956	$65
Michigan State University	MI	Public	58,879	$65
University of Colorado Boulder	CO	Public	56,069	$65
Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	Public	54,279	$65
University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	Public	46,682	$65
University of Oregon	OR	Public	39,400	$65
CUNY City College	NY	Public	31,988	$65
Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	73,083	$60
Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	Public	70,028	$60
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	Public	47,208	$60
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	Public	58,416	$55
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	Public	39,863	$55
Temple University	PA	Public	36,399	$55
Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	Public	68,840	$50
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	67,398	$50
University of Arizona	AZ	Public	56,466	$50
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	Public	50,488	$50
Stony Brook University	NY	Public	50,341	$50
Binghamton University	NY	Public	49,513	$50
Auburn University	AL	Public	48,178	$50
Vanderbilt University	TN	Private nonprofit	45,313	$50
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	Public	42,558	$50
Drexel University	PA	Private nonprofit	40,204	$50
University at Buffalo	NY	Public	38,210	$50
Liberty University	VA	Private nonprofit	36,921	$50
Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	Public	36,612	$50
Miami University-Oxford	OH	Public	34,498	$50
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	Public	33,165	$50
The University of Alabama	AL	Public	58,418	$40
Northern Arizona University	AZ	Public	37,805	$40
The University of Tampa	FL	Private nonprofit	35,353	$40
Florida State University	FL	Public	74,038	$30
University of Florida	FL	Public	65,375	$30
University of South Florida	FL	Public	65,187	$30
University of Central Florida	FL	Public	60,627	$30
Grand Canyon University	AZ	Private for-profit	47,978	$0
Southern New Hampshire University	NH	Private nonprofit	45,127	$0
Loyola University Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit	40,468	$0
Baylor University	TX	Private nonprofit	39,735	$0
DePaul University	IL	Private nonprofit	32,176	$0

Fees are the undergraduate first-year application fee each college reports to the federal government. Fee waivers for eligible students are separate.

How much do college application fees cost at the 100 most-applied-to colleges?

Application fees at the 100 most-applied-to US colleges range from $0 to $90, and $75 is the fee we see most often. These are the fees each college reports to the federal government for a first-year applicant.

The full list is in the table above. It runs from the highest fee at the top to the lowest at the bottom. Each college has its own fee, so the list your child builds sets the total your family pays.

We tell families to look at fees early, right next to test dates and deadlines. Fees are a small part of college costs, but they add up as the list grows, and nobody likes a surprise in the middle of application season.

Which college charges the highest application fee?

Stanford University charges the highest application fee on the list, at $90. No college on the list charges more.

Right behind it, a group of colleges charges $85. That group is the University of Southern California, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia, Harvard, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Duke, Syracuse and North Carolina State.

Our rule is simple: a fee should never be the reason a student skips a college that fits. If the cost is hard for your family, read the waiver section below before you cross anything off.

Which colleges charge no application fee?

Five colleges on the list charge $0 to apply: Grand Canyon University, Southern New Hampshire University, Loyola University Chicago, Baylor University and DePaul University.

Loyola and DePaul are both in Illinois, and Baylor is in Texas. Grand Canyon is the only for-profit college on the list.

The next lowest fee is $30. Florida State, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida each charge that amount.

What do Harvard, Yale and Princeton charge to apply?

Harvard charges $85, Yale charges $80 and Princeton charges $70.

Other well-known private colleges sit close by. Columbia charges $85, Cornell charges $80, and the University of Pennsylvania and Brown each charge $75. Stanford, at $90, is the only college on the list above Harvard and Columbia.

Our students often apply to several of these at once. We have them write each fee next to each name so the family sees the real total before the first form goes in.

What do the University of California campuses charge?

Every University of California campus on the list charges $80. That includes Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Davis, Santa Cruz, Merced and Riverside.

The California State University campuses on the list charge $70. Those are Long Beach, Fullerton and Los Angeles, along with San Diego State, San Jose State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona.

If your child plans to apply to more than one of these campuses, write each fee down before you start. The total climbs fast when every campus on the list carries its own fee.

Which public universities on the list charge the least to apply?

The University of Florida, Florida State, the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida charge $30 each, the lowest fee of any public university on the list.

The University of Alabama and Northern Arizona University charge $40. At $50, you will find the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Arizona State, the University of Arizona, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Stony Brook, Binghamton, the University at Buffalo, Colorado State, Miami University and Cincinnati.

How do we figure out the total fees for our child's list?

Start with the table above, where each of the 100 colleges shows its own fee, and add the fees for the colleges on your list.

We have our students write the college names in one column and the fees in the next. A list full of $80 and $85 colleges costs more than a list of $30 and $50 colleges, even when both lists are the same length.

Keep that total with your test dates and deadlines. Then you can plan for it the same way you plan for anything else on the calendar.

Can my child get the application fee waived?

Fee waivers for eligible students are separate from the fees in this table, and our guide, Who qualifies for a college application fee waiver, explains who is eligible: https://www.prepgurus.com/blog/college-application-fee-waivers.

We tell families to read that guide before they pay any fee. Start there, and then come back to this table for the colleges where your child will pay the full amount.

What should we do this month?

This month, have your child take a free mock SAT and a free mock ACT with Test Prep Gurus. The results show which test fits your child best, so you pay for fewer real test sittings.

For this year's seniors, who are sending applications now for fall 2027, use the table to keep a running tally of fees as each application goes out. For juniors, who will apply next fall, build the college list now and pick a test date that counts.

We plan 6 to 12 weeks of prep before a test date that counts, and we tell our students to prepare for the whole test every sitting. Call us at 949.229.5359 or start at https://www.prepgurus.com/take-the-next-step.

Questions parents ask

Which college has the highest application fee?
Stanford University charges the highest application fee on the list, at $90.

What is the most common college application fee?
Application fees at the 100 most-applied-to US colleges range from $0 to $90, and $75 is the fee we see most often.

Which colleges have no application fee?
Five colleges on the list charge $0 to apply: Grand Canyon University, Southern New Hampshire University, Loyola University Chicago, Baylor University and DePaul University.

How much does it cost to apply to Harvard, Yale or Princeton?
Harvard charges $85, Yale charges $80 and Princeton charges $70.

How much does it cost to apply to a University of California campus?
Every University of California campus on the list charges $80.

Can my child get the application fee waived?
Fee waivers for eligible students are separate from the fees in this table, and our guide, Who qualifies for a college application fee waiver, explains who is eligible: https://www.prepgurus.com/blog/college-application-fee-waivers.

Ready to plan the next test date? Free mock SAT and free mock ACT at Test Prep Gurus, then a plan built on the result: prepgurus.com/take-the-next-step or 949.229.5359.

Method and sources: Each fee is the undergraduate first-year application fee the college reports to the federal government, from IPEDS Institutional Characteristics in the latest federal data, as compiled by High School Reach. The applicant counts also come from IPEDS. Fee waivers for eligible students are separate and are not reflected in these amounts. A college can change its fee, so the amount on its own application is the final word.