Top 20 Universities In USA Without Application Fee

Last Updated on August 31, 2022

Are you planning to study in USA and you are worried about the high cost of applying for admission into US universities? It might interest you to go through this article as you will learn about some of the top universities in USA without application fees.

Universities In USA Without Application Fee

USA is home to the world’s leading and most prestigious universities in the world, which also host many international students and excellent alumni. Due to the decent standard of living, plenty of courses available in different fields of study, great research opportunities, flexible education system, beautiful scenery and climate, endless activities, strong economy, developed cities, and other factors that make students want to study in USA.

Since the cost of applying for admission into universities is high, students who wished to study abroad in their dream country find it difficult to proceed. Fortunately, many colleges provide free applications, and many schools offer cost waivers to students who complete the process online. Applying to these universities can increase your chances of getting admission without having to pay the hefty application fee. There are several universities in the USA without application fees.

We take a look at the top universities in USA without application fees.

Top 20 Universities In USA Without Application Fee

Below are some of the best universities in USA to apply to with no application fees.

1. Thomas Aquinas College

Thomas Aquinas College is a Roman Catholic institution with a lay administration. It has two campuses: the original campus of 131 acres located in southern California and the second campus of 110 acres located in New England. This college offers a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and several financial aid options such as loans, campus employment, and grants. At least 11% of the alumni have entered the priesthood or religious life and 40% have enrolled in professional and graduate schools.

2. Carleton College

The next university in America with no application fees is Carleton College, a liberal arts private institution located in Northfield, Minnesota. It offers minors and majors such as cinema and media studies, environmental studies, Judaic studies, neuroscience, and medieval and renaissance studies. This is a very friendly college for international students as it encourages cultural exchange in the curriculum of the study programs and promotes diversity among students and professors.

Carleton College has an Office of Intercultural and International Life to help international students adapt to their new environment. There’s also the option of applying for financial aid. Asian students, highly qualified non-U.S. citizens, and international students without geographic limitations are given priority.

3. Wellesley College

Wellesley College is one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the United States. It has been educating women in liberal arts for more than 100 years. In fact, it was ranked as the 3rd best liberal arts college in the United States by U.S. News & World Report in 2018. This college understands how difficult is for a young lady to enter college and it offers a friendly admission process.

4. Colby College

Colby College is a higher education institution specializing in liberal arts and located in Waterville, Maine. It offers 56 majors and 35 minors including anthropology, East Asian studies, environmental computation, geology, and music.

It also offers the amazing opportunity of studying the first year of college across the Atlantic. Students can choose to start studying in Salamanca, Spain, or Dijon, France, and get to know the country’s culture, make international friends and live with a local family. And of course, they’ll learn to speak Spanish or French depending on the country of their preference.

5. Kenyon College

Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college that offers all the charm of a small community. It is located in Gambier, Ohio, and has a 1,000-acre campus where sororities, fraternities, cappella groups, and all kinds of student organizations converge.

This college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has 33 majors leading to bachelor’s degrees. It has more than 50 majors, minors, and interdisciplinary concentrations. Applying is easy and free of charge, you just have to fill in an online application and send various official academic documents.

Kenyon College doesn’t have any application fees as mentioned on their website: “There is no application fee at Kenyon College. It is free for anyone who applies.”

6. Smith College

Smith College is a women’s institution located in Northampton, Massachusetts, that welcomes trans-women and transitioning students. It is a liberal arts college that aims to empower young women and turn them into leaders. International students are highly welcomed at Smith College. It currently has students from 68 different countries from all over the world. And although it is a college for women, it accepts both women and men for graduate studies.

There are 58 academic departments and programs including philosophy, women and gender studies, logic, Buddhist studies, and linguistics.

7. Reed College

Reed College, located in Portland, Oregon is a coeducational independent liberal art and sciences college. It is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood that features beautiful Gothic architecture and stunning forests. There are students from all over the world, which gives the college a sense of diversity and inclusion. Its mission is to pursue intellectual growth and to stimulate critical thinking and creativity in its students, also known as remedies.

8. Grinnell College

Grinnell College is a private, coeducational, residential liberal arts and sciences college located in Grinnell, Iowa. Grinnellians appreciate intimacy in their courses. There are no more than 20 students per class, making it a more customized experience.

This college offers degrees in 27 major fields with 16 concentrations and has more than 150 study groups. International students are highly important being the 20% of the college population and representing 45 different countries from all over the world. Also, there is 24% of the population who identifies themselves as people of color.

As stated on their website, Grinnell Colleges doesn’t have any application fees: “You’ll need to fill out the Common Application, and there’s no separate application fee.”

9. Centre College

Centre College is a private undergraduate liberal arts college located in Danville, Kentucky. It offers over 50 majors, minors, pre-professional and dual-degree programs, and graduate partnerships. These degrees cover fields such as behavioral neuroscience, data science, theatre, and pre-nursing.  Centre College facilities include multiple halls, a visual arts center, outdoor classrooms, and a center for the arts. Life on the campus has a lot to offer since it is a full-time residential college and there are various activities students can join in as the drama & performing arts group, the basketball team, or they can even help with community service.

10. Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is a women’s liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It has coeducational graduate schools and a post-baccalaureate premedical program. Students are free to choose among a great number of majors in the humanities, the sciences, and social sciences. This college values and encourages critical thinking, creativeness, and independent habits of thought and expression in its students.

Applying for Bryn Mawr College is easy and fee-free when the application is sent online. There are 3 application plans: Early Decision I and Early Decision II for those fully committed to attending this college; and Regular Decision.

11. Rhodes College

Rhodes College is another excellent college in America with no application fees for international students and domestic students. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee and it is a liberal art private coeducational residential college. The campus covers a 123-acre tract and is famous for its stone Collegiate Gothic buildings. There is a good student life going on in this college. Students can join in a great number of activities that go from serving on the Honor Council to participating in fine arts or organizing a community service initiative.

International and multicultural students represent 34% of the student population in Rhodes College, making this institution even more appealing to international students.

12. University of South, Sewanee

Sewanee: The University of the South, also known as Sewanee, is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Tennessee. There are 37 majors, 43 minors, 15 special programs, and pre-professional programs in business, health/medicine, education, engineering, and law. Something very interesting about this college is that 99% of its graduate students are employed, in graduate school, or actively participating in a project within six months of graduating. This demonstrates that there is a high rate of success for those who choose this institution.

13. Hampshire College

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, and founded in 1970, making it a young higher education institution that was originally conceived to be an alternative education college. And, somehow, Hampshire College continues to be an alternative as students don’t choose majors but create them. They work with a committee to customize a major from a list, which includes African studies, legal studies, film, video, and photography, etc.

This higher education institution offers an interesting student life, having more than 70 study groups as well as intercollegiate club sports and a wide range of campus events and activities, and an outdoor recreation program, making students sojourn even more enjoyable.

14. Lewis & Clark College

The next college in the United States with no application fee is Lewis & Clark College, which is located in Portland, Oregon, and it functions as private liberal arts and sciences college. It has three main schools: the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, and the School of Law. This college is among the 100 best liberal arts colleges in the United States, according to the U.S. News & World Report. Lewis & Clark College is ranked as the 72nd best liberal arts college in the country. It is also ranked as the 51st in undergraduate teaching and 89th for “Best Value” by the same media company.

15. Trinity University

Trinity University is a private university located in San Antonio, Texas with its campus in the Monte Vista Historic District, six miles south of the San Antonio International Airport. It was founded in 1869 and is part of the Annapolis Group and the Associated Colleges of the South, which are independent organizations of liberal arts colleges and universities.

Trinity University offers an intimate environment with small size classrooms where students can feel comfortable while learning and challenging themselves. There are 49 majors, 61 minors, and several interdisciplinary and advising programs including Chinese studies, geosciences, mathematical finance, and urban studies.

16. The College of Wooster

The College of Wooster is a liberal arts private college that was founded in 1866. All Wooster students (approximately 2,000) are able to develop great communication and written skills along with critical and analytical abilities and creativeness in their learning process. Students must complete a rigorous senior research project before finishing their studies. Each student has to work with the guidance of a faculty mentor on a subject of their interest.

Among this college’s majors, minors and programs, you can find digital studies, pre-law, and women’s gender and sexuality studies. A good thing is that this college does not charge any application fees for international students.

17. Juniata College

Juniata College is a coeducational, private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania founded in 1876. It currently has students from 45 different countries in the world. Juniata students often graduate within 4 or fewer years and 95% of them are employed or in graduate school within six months of graduating.

Application is online, through Common App or the Coalition app. You just have to make sure to choose Juniata as an option and fill in the application. You will be notified when your admission application is completed and under review.

18. Presbyterian College

Presbyterian College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina. It was founded in 1880 by the Rev. William Plumer Jacobs. It is known for having intimate small classes and the best South Carolina Professors of the Year as well as pretty campus spots where students develop their college life.

Presbyterian College got famous in the fall of 2016 after appearing in a headline on Reddit. It was about “Religion of SEC Football”, a class taught by Professors Dr. Michael Nelson and Dr. Terry Barr. It addressed the parallelisms between football and religion and why one is often put above the other.

19. Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts university in Delaware, Ohio founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and local residents as a nonsectarian institution. It is a member of the Ohio Five, a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges. It has a 200-acre academic and residential campus that features the Kraus Wilderness Preserve and the Perkins Observatory.

Ohio Wesleyan University openly welcomes international students, having people from 60 different countries who are the 10% of the student population. To be part of them, you just need to fill in an admission application, write an essay, and send your English Proficiency certificate, your academic records, and a letter of recommendation.

20. Drake University

Another university without an application fee in the US is Drake University, a private university located in Des Moines, Iowa that offers undergraduate and graduate programs in pharmacy, law, and business. This university offers a great student life experience, having fraternities, sororities, and fun activities like rock concerts, plays, movie nights, comedy shows, and gallery openings.

If you are into sports, Drake University has several sports teams for both women and men including volleyball, softball, soccer, golf, and track & field. And food does not lag behind; the campus has lots of dining offers. You can find anything that goes with your preferences, including vegan food, coffee shops, and planned menus.

USA is a great place to live and study and you no longer have to worry about the cost of applying to USA universities. With this list of the top universities in USA without application fee, you should take the time to prepare, and quickly apply for admission to any of the schools.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *