However, let us be serious for a minute. You made a life-changing decision to go back to college and it scared, daunted and thrilled you. You spent months preparing a statement of purpose, trying to persuade some people to recommend you and conducting a research about various programs. However, somewhere in all this caffeinated haze you suddenly discovered that the university requires sixty dollars to view your application. The whole process is a small-scale business venture that you are going to finance yourself.
Remember when I was sitting by my credit card statement after the third application with slight nausea from the amount of my expenses. It happens pretty fast. The trick is that you are well aware of how to plan your rent or vacation expenses, but this one works more subtly as it takes months. GRE prep books here, transcripts fee there, and suddenly you have spent five hundred dollars and did not even notice it.
And here is where my bank account was really bleeding money.
* Application Fees: These expenses are straightforward ranging from $50 to $100 depending on universities you apply to.
* The GRE or GMAT: The standardized test itself will take you a couple of hundreds of dollars but the real trap lies in score sends.
* Transcripts: Even if your university has gone digital there is still $12 fee that you will pay every time you send your transcripts.
* Visiting Schools: Once you get into the university you will definitely want to visit it. It means gas, hotels expenses and campus coffee that will take you off-guard.
So, how do you prevent your bank account from getting empty before the whole application process even starts?
Set a hard limit of the number of schools to which you are going to apply early on
It is tempting to apply to ten universities because of your self-doubt but it means that you put yourself into an extra five-hundred-dollar anxiety tax. In my opinion six or seven universities is the perfect number of places in your application list. It makes sense to concentrate on several schools rather than spend money on every Ivy League university.
Track every micro-expense
For that you will need an additional spreadsheet. Seriously. Every dollar spent should be recorded. From the $7 spent on sending AP score from your high school to the $200 you will spend on GRE. This way you will be able to cut down unnecessary expenses and not to overdraft your checking account because of a high fee of the last application.
Look for those waivers
This is the point where you can really save some money. There are fee waivers available for financially disadvantaged students and it is not difficult to get them. Sometime you will receive codes for those waivers at the universities’ recruitment events or virtual open houses. All you have to do is to ask for them.
Time your test dates
Be careful with test registration date as late fees are highway robbery punishment for your procrastination. Register the test in advance and pay only a basic fee for it. Sending those scores? Only if you have to.
The whole process is stressful enough without unexpected overdrafts. Take it as a business venture with a budget.