$1,138

School is expensive. We all know that. But with a little luck and a lot of preparation, school is something we won't have to pay a dime for. Yet, looking over my last two month's credit card bills, I've come to realize that the actual act of applying to schools is pretty darn expensive too. Thirteen schools, thirteen application fees. GRE test fees. Training materials. Mailing applications through priority mail. It all adds up. Consider my application fees alone:

Columbia College - $35
Roosevelt University - $25
Notre Dame - $35
University of Michigan - $60
John Hopkins - $75
Syracuse - $75
Ohio State University - $40
Washington University (St. Louis) - $45
University of Illinois - $60
University of Iowa - $60
Indiana University - $50
Western Michigan - $40
Purdue University - $55

Thirteen schools, thirteen application fees for a total of $655. Wow. But the fun doesn't stop there. Let's look at all the fees associated with the GREs:

GRE Test - $140 to take the test once, which I did.
GRE Scores Reports - Four school reports were free, but anything over that was extra. Extra score reports will cost you $20 a pop. It's a freaking scam, but you can read my earlier posts to get an idea on how I feel about the ETS. I had to send score reports for 11 schools, which means I paid for seven schools, for a total of $140.
Miscellaneous testing materials - I spent a bit on extra preparation materials. I bought Barron's GRE Test Prep, which was $25, access to tests on MyGRETutor.com, which was $5, and the tests on 800score.com, which was $20. All for a total of $50.

So that brings the GRE fees to a total of $330. And we're not done just yet. Mailing the applications was also a surprising amount of change too:

Materials - Manila folders, new printer cartridge, envelopes, mailing labels, and a whole ream of printing paper. Total: approximately $75.
Priority mail through USPS - I mailed each application over priority mail using the USPS, which provided a nice confirmation number for each application to let me know when each was mailed. They ran approximately $6 each, which was $78.

Okay. So let's total this up. Application fees - $655. GRE fees - $330. Mailing fees - $153. Total: $1,138. Yep. That's over a grand.

I'm sure I've missed some miscellaneous fees. Paper, research materials, etc. But this rough estimation is probably a fairly accurate total. Happily, I can say that I can afford this. I have a great full time job with benefits and I get paid pretty well. The question is, how in the world can anyone else afford this? What about the part-timer? What about the student who just comes out of undergraduate school, with a boatload of loans to pay back? What about the person who's working on a minimum wage without benefits? Great writers come from all walks of life. Yet at an average of $88 a school, it's unfortunate that only the privileged can truly afford to apply to school without sacrificing an arm and a leg. And all of this is, of course, with no guarantee of admission.

The point? I don't really have one, I guess. I wanted to complain, mainly, about the time and effort and money invested into all of this, with the very large possibility of no admission. But then, looking at this extraordinarily large total -- $1,138 -- and then looking at how easily I was able to afford it... the thought makes me thankful.