ACT Cost and Fees

By Muntasir Jul 18, 2026 7 min read

TL;DR

The base ACT fee is $70 and covers English, math, and reading, no science, no writing. Adding science brings the total to $75, adding writing brings it to $95, and adding both brings it to $100. Late registration adds a $42 fee, and changing your test date, center, or test option costs $49. Your registration fee includes free score reports to yourself, your school, and up to four colleges if you select them by the deadline. Extra score reports cost $20 each beyond the free sends. Students who meet income or assistance criteria are allowed to apply for a fee waiver, which covers the registration fee plus any add-ons, for up to two separate uses.

ACT registration costs money, and your total depends on which optional sections you add and whether you miss a deadline. The base fee covers three sections, and every add-on, late registration, or change request raises the amount you owe. Knowing which add-ons and deadlines push the price up lets you register once at the lowest total for your plan. This guide breaks down the base fee, optional add-ons, late and change fees, extra score reports, fee waiver eligibility and how to apply, and school-purchased vouchers.

Base Registration Fee

The standard ACT registration fee covers the three required multiple-choice sections: English, math, and reading. Science and writing are optional, and each one adds a separate charge on top of the base price. You lock in your test option when you register, so pick it after you check what your target colleges want. If you plan to test outside the US, see our guide for international students for the extra fees and rules abroad. The table below shows every combination and the total you pay at standard registration.

Test Option	Total Fee
ACT (no science, no writing)	$70
ACT + Science	$75
ACT + Writing	$95
ACT + Science + Writing	$100

The science add-on costs $5 and the writing add-on costs $25. Check which sections your target colleges require before you register, since not every school asks for the optional sections. Switching your test option after you register costs $49, so getting the choice right the first time keeps your total down. See our guide to the optional science and writing sections for details on what each section covers and when colleges require it.

Late, Change, and Standby Fees

Missing a deadline or changing your plans after you register adds cost on top of the base fee. These charges apply to every test option, so a $70 registration and a $100 registration owe the same late fee. Each change request is billed on its own, so two date moves are charged at $49 each. The list below shows the three extra charges you are most likely to hit.

Late registration: $42, charged when you register after the standard deadline.
Test date, center, or test-option change: $49, charged each time you change any of these after registering.
Standby testing: $75, paid on top of your test option fee.

Standby testing runs on its own rules, so read the ACT registration page for how seats are handled before you pay anything. Late and change fees stack on top of your test option fee, and none of them replaces it. Our registration walkthrough covers deadlines and how to avoid late fees in the first place.

Score Reports and Verification

Your registration fee includes free score reports sent to you, your high school, and up to four colleges of your choice, as long as you select those colleges by the deadline listed at registration. Missing the deadline means you pay for every report you send afterward. Rescoring and answer-key services carry separate prices and are never included in registration. The table below lists what each extra service costs.

Service	Fee
Additional score report (each)	$20
Score verification, one section	$67
Score verification, both sections	$134
My Answer Key, ordered before test day	$36
My Answer Key, ordered after test day	$44

Score verification is a manual rescore of your multiple-choice section, your writing section, or both, at $67 per section. Order it if you think your reported score does not match your performance. My Answer Key, also called Test Information Release, is ordered separately from your score report, and it costs $8 less when you order before test day. Check the ACT fees page for current availability and ordering details. Our score reporting guide explains how sending scores to colleges works and how superscoring affects which reports you send.

Fee Waiver Eligibility

Students who cannot afford the registration fee are allowed to apply for an ACT fee waiver. A fee waiver covers the regular registration fee plus the add-on fee for science, for writing, or for both, so it works with any test option you choose. Eligibility is confirmed at your school rather than on the ACT website, so start with your counselor. The rules below cover who qualifies, how to claim a waiver, and what a waiver leaves you to pay.

You qualify for a fee waiver if you are currently enrolled in 11th or 12th grade and meet at least one of these economic need indicators. Meeting one indicator is enough, so you do not need to satisfy all four. Your counselor checks your situation against the list below before issuing a waiver, so bring any paperwork your school asks for.

Your family income falls at or below the USDA free-or-reduced-lunch levels.
Your family receives low-income public assistance or lives in federally subsidized housing.
You are enrolled in a federally funded program for economically disadvantaged students, such as free or reduced lunch, GEAR UP, or Upward Bound.
You live in foster care, are a ward of the state, or are homeless.

How to Apply

Applying runs through your school, not through a form you submit to ACT on your own. Your counselor confirms your eligibility and issues the waiver, and you then attach it to your own registration. Each waiver carries a serial number, and the fee comes off only when you enter the number yourself. Follow these four steps.

Ask your school counselor to confirm you meet the eligibility criteria above.
Have your counselor issue you an ACT fee waiver with its serial number.
Sign in to My ACT and start your registration for the test date you want.
Enter the fee waiver serial number during registration so the fee comes off your total.

Each student is allowed a maximum of two separate fee waivers total. ACT denies additional requests once you use both. A fee waiver counts as used the moment you register, even if you never sit for the test, so rescheduling afterward still requires paying the $49 change fee out of pocket. A fee waiver does not refund a fee you already paid, and it does not cover extra products or services like additional score reports.

For the 2026-2027 cycle, online fee waiver submissions are accepted through August 31, 2027. Ask your counselor early, since the waiver has to be in hand before you finish registering. Students who test with a fee waiver are also allowed to use the Request for Waiver or Deferral of College Admission Application Fee form an unlimited number of times, though individual colleges are not obligated to honor it.

School-Purchased Vouchers

Some schools and agencies buy National Prebilled Registration Vouchers and hand them to students instead of collecting payment. A voucher is a separate route from a fee waiver, and your school decides who receives one. For the 2026-27 cycle, these vouchers cost $75 for ACT plus Science and $100 for ACT plus Science and Writing. A voucher covers the registration fee plus late fees but does not cover other add-ons or services, and vouchers are valid through June 22, 2027.

If your school offers a voucher, ask your counselor whether it applies automatically or whether you need to request one. Match the voucher against the test option you want, since the two voucher prices cover different section combinations. Once you know your total cost, plan your study schedule around your test date with our ACT study plan. Then work through our ACT practice tests and drills to prepare for exam day, free and with no signup required.