Everyone wants to take the SAT and ACT to try and qualify for the colleges that they want to attend, but some students face the challenges of too high prices that may be impossible to meet. Currently, the SAT price is $54.50, the ACT with writing is priced at $56.50, and the ACT without writing is $39.50. This is too much money for someone to pay, and it has to be difficult for some people to pay for the test. You have to pay all the fees of both test to even take them, if you do not then you are not able. This where the problem starts with the prices being to high, there are many fees that you pay.

All students want to take both of these tests to get a better chance at college, but some people cannot afford to pay for these tests. So what do they do? They have to fill out the ACT and SAT fee waiver which seems to be a long process, and it does not  cover all the fees for the test. It only covers the basic registration fee, which is the normal fee that each person pays for the test they register for. It does not cover the late registration fee, your test date, score reports, and other kind of services to the test. Shouldn’t there be something to cover more of the cost? What is the point when you still pay lots of money for the other parts of the test. Not to mention, to me, it is unfair that students have to go through the hassle to take this test. Students have to worry about doing well on these tests, but they also have to worry how are they going to pay for it.

The price of the SAT and ACT test really should be lowered; it’s not fair for people who struggle to pay. If you are not careful preparing for these tests, you spend a lot of money, and all that money you have goes away on these tests, and the people who have it hard can not afford to be wasting their money. Preparing for these tests is adding another college expense, with study materials and websites. I understand that this helps students in many ways, but do not want to worry about having to pay so much for the test, and trying to get into college at the same time.   If you don’t do well on the test, you can take it again multiple times. This makes you spend even more money than you expected in the first place. I feel that the pressure just builds on students having to think so hard about these test.    

There are some ways to save money while trying to pay these tests. There are four steps to help: take advantage of SAT and ACT school day, know what colleges that you are interested in before signing up, use free or low-cost ACT and SAT apps, and get free resources from websites. If you do not want to spend a lot of money, try this out. I believe that students should give this method a try. It would help ease the pressure on them.

Even though these tests cost lots of money: they are definitely worth it. It is more likely to help you get into the colleges that you want. People may not have the money to pay for them, but there are ways for people to save money; it may not be a big difference. Even though there are ways to save a bit of money, the prices need to be lowered.