Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Program Fee Waiver Program

Date: September 09

To: Advanced Placement Coordinators and International Baccalaureate Coordinators

From: Mary C. Daley

Subject: Federal Advanced Placement Fee Reduction Program

Under a United States Department of Education Advanced Placement Incentive Program grant, it is anticipated that Congress will appropriate funds to cover the cost of advanced program examination fees for low-income students who are enrolled in high school level advanced programs. Based on their availability, these funds will be used to provide fee waivers for the College Board Advanced Placement Examinations and International Baccalaureate examinations. These waivers enable schools to provide opportunities to students who would otherwise be unable to participate in advanced placement courses.

A fee waiver for each examination has been established for this year. This waiver is available for students taking examinations in May 2010. For both the College Board Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate examinations, the State Education Department will reimburse these organizations for fee waiver examinations actually taken.

The Federal Fee Reduction Program eligibility criteria are the same as the existing criteria used by the College Board and International Baccalaureate Programs. A student qualifies for an Option 1 (NY has funding only under Option 1) fee reduction if the following criteria are met:

• The student is on free or reduced lunch
• In order to receive the fee waiver, you must determine student eligibility and provide appropriate information to the College Board or International Baccalaureate Offices and the State Education Department.

For the College Board Advanced Placement Program:

The fee for AP exams this spring (2010) is $86.00 per examination. The College Board offers a fee waiver of $22.00 per examination for low-income students. If the waiver is taken, schools also forfeit the $8.00 administration fee for that examination. Therefore, the College Board's charge per examination, for qualified students, is reduced to $56.00. This is the amount that the Federal Fee Waiver will cover in New York State. Therefore, any students qualifying for a fee waiver should not have to pay any money. It is schools that schools do not collect any funds from these qualifying students.

Remember: If a student qualifies for the College Board fee waiver, he/she also qualifies for the Federal Fee Waiver. In past years a number of schools have applied for only one waiver on the College Board Fee Remittance Form, therefore failing to take advantage of the additional waiver funds available. Coordinators should take care to check that both waivers appear on the AP Exam invoice.

The College Board will send detailed information on waivers to each AP Coordinator. In order for the federal fee waiver to be applied to your billing from the College Board it is essential that you send this office the State copy of the invoice you send to the College Board after the exams are administered, as well the names of all qualified fee waiver students and the number of exams they took. You may use this AP roster (89 KB) to provide the student list and be sure it is signed and verified by the School Principal. Failure to do this will result in a loss of the waiver funds.

Questions about the Federal Fee Waiver program should be directed to:

Ed Donnelly
Room 866 EBA
State Education Department
Albany, NY 12234
Phone: (518) 474-8773
E-mail: edonnell@mail.nysed.gov
Fax: (518) 473-0770

Other questions may also be directed to the Advanced Placement Program by phone at 1-888-CALL-4-AP (1-888-225-5427) or by email at apexams@info.collegeboard.org

For the International Baccalaureate Program:

When registering a candidate for exams on IBIS, respond to the question "Is the candidate eligible for the fee or reduced lunch program?” The State Education Department will reimburse the school for the costs related to all Fee Waiver eligible students including registration and examination fees. You should use the IB roster (114 KB) signed by the School Principal listing the names of all fee waiver students and a statement indicating that these students were not charged the $129 registration fee nor were they charged for any of the exams they took ($88 each). The signed roster should be submitted along with a completed Standard Voucher (87 KB). Upon receipt of the paperwork, the State Education Department will then pay your district the full amount listed on your roster. If you have further questions you may contact Ed Donnelly at the State Education Department office at (518) 474-8773 or e-mail edonnell@mail.nysed.gov.

It is our hope that the current Federal Fee Waiver Program will substantially increase the equity of access for all students to these advanced programs. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance in this important initiative.