Learn Everything About the CSU Application Fee

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Don’t Have Enough Money for the CSU Application Fee? Learn How To Get a CSU Fee Waiver!

The California State University (CSU) system has 23 campuses with over 4,100 undergraduate and graduate programs. More than 480,000 students get admitted to CSU every year.

If you think about applying for CSU, prepare to pay a fee for each application you make. In case this charge is a great burden on your budget, learn how to submit a CSU fee waiver request.

What Are College Application Fee Waivers?

Most schools require application fees that range from $40 to $100. Here are the application fees for some of the most popular schools:

InstitutionApplication Fee
East Carolina University$75
Boston University$80
Duke University$85
Syracuse University$85
Stanford University$90

Students usually apply to several colleges to increase their chances of enrollment. Since application fees can pile up, fee waivers can be helpful to students with financial struggles.

Everything You Should Know About the Cal State Application Fee

The application fee for all CSU campuses is $70. If you apply for more than one campus, you can end up spending hundreds of dollars. The fees are not refundable, so you won’t get your money back if you miss a deadline or don’t get enrolled.

You can pay the application fee via PayPal, pre-paid credit or debit card, or standard credit or debit card. Bear in mind that you can’t make a credit card payment over the phone.

If you can’t pay the application fee, check whether you are eligible for the CSU application fee waiver.

Who Can Qualify for the Cal State Application Fee Waiver?

You can apply for a CSU application fee waiver if you are a:

  • U.S. citizen
  • Foster child
  • California veteran
  • First-time freshman
  • California resident who is 60 or older
  • California resident for longer than a year
  • Student who is experiencing financial hardship
  • Participant in an in-state university exchange
  • Dependent on Victims of September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks​
  • Person who is eligible for an AB 540 nonresident tuition exemption
  • Student whose spouse or parent was a CSU employee who died in the line of work

Sometimes, students who think they are eligible for the application fee waiver don’t get one. This situation usually happens because they make errors when filling out the application form. If a campus denies a fee waiver request, it might be because the candidate:

  1. Says that he or she is a dependable applicant with a family size of one
  2. Puts the same amount for in the Adjusted Gross Income and Untaxed Income fields
  3. Chooses None as the reply to What U.S. State/Possession do you regard as your permanent home?

If you want to avoid errors when filling out your CSU application fee waiver, you should check out the Application Fee Waiver Checklist.

How To Request a Fee Waiver for the CSU Applications?

California State University will decide whether you are eligible for a fee waiver based on the answers you give in your admission application. To apply, you need to:

  1. Log in to your Cal State Apply account
  2. Provide all the necessary information about yourself, your school, and your financial situation
  3. Click on the Check My Fee Waiver Status button to see whether you can expect to get a fee waiver
  4. Click on Submit All

In case you qualify for a CSU fee waiver, you can use it for up to four applications in the same term. You can’t transfer the approved waivers to a future or past application term.

California State University won’t accept any third-party fee application forms, such as the SAT, ACT, NACAC, Coalition App, or Common App fee waivers.

Did CSU Deny Your Fee Waiver Request? You Can File an Appeal

In case your family’s financial situation changes for the worse after your CSU application, you may file a fee waiver appeal. What you should do is:

  1. Open the Application Fee Waiver page
  2. Scroll down and click on the Fee Waiver Appeal Form
  3. Check the boxes that apply to the changes that happened to you
  4. Give the form to your guardian to sign
  5. Provide your signature
  6. Fill in the details about your U.S. citizenship or check the boxes that apply to you in case you are not a U.S. citizen

Once you complete the form, you will have to send it to each CSU campus you want to apply to. The campus representatives should contact you regarding your case. Here is the contact information of all CSU campuses.

Do You Have Other Colleges on Your List? Use DoNotPay To Submit an Application Fee Waiver Request in No Time

The process of applying for the California State University fee waiver can take you a lot of time. Don’t let the same happen when you request fee waivers for other colleges—use DoNotPay to save your time!

With our AI-powered app, you can submit a fee waiver request in minutes! All you need to do is follow a few easy steps:

  1. Set up your DoNotPay account in any
  2. Open the College Application Fee Waiver feature
  3. Choose the fee you want to get waived
  4. Select the college you want to get an application fee waiver for and answer the questions regarding your financial status
  5. State whether you would like to have a counselor’s signature

What’s best is that you won’t have to worry about filling out any forms. We’ll do that for you and send your request to the admission office of the school you want to apply to.

You can use our app to waive three types of fees:

  • New student application
  • Transfer student
  • Enrollment deposit

DoNotPay has a vast database of schools all around the U.S., and you can easily find the one you wish to enroll in. With our app, you can submit fee waiver requests for Harvard, American University, Columbia University, Northeastern University, The University of Maryland, The University of Texas at Arlington.

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Use DoNotPay to learn more about college fees.

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