How much does the SAT cost?

Question

Accepted Answer

The SAT costs $68 for students testing in the United States — the published fee through December 2026. That is the base registration fee; late registration, changing your test center, and ordering extra score reports each carry their own separate fee, and students who qualify for a College Board fee waiver pay nothing for the base registration at all. What the base fee buys: the test itself, your score report, and a set of free score sends to colleges that you can use up to a short window after test day. It does not buy prep materials — the official Bluebook practice tests are free to everyone, waiver or not. The add-ons are where a $68 test quietly passes $120. Registering after the regular deadline costs extra. Changing your test center after you register costs extra. Ordering score reports beyond your free sends costs extra per report. None of these are unavoidable — they are almost entirely the price of deciding late. Fee waivers are the part most families do not ask about. They cover the base registration fee completely and come with additional benefits, and they are requested through the school counselor rather than bought. Any one of six circumstances qualifies a student — free or reduced-price lunch, USDA income guidelines, a federal, state or local low-income program such as TRIO, public assistance, being unhoused or living in federally subsidized public housing or a foster home, or being a ward of the state or an orphan. Income is one route, not a gate. If there is any chance a family qualifies, asking costs nothing. One caution about published prices, including this one: College Board sets these fees and adjusts them between testing years. The $68 figure is what College Board publishes through December 2026; nothing is posted yet for spring 2027. Before you budget around any number you read on a prep company's website — ours included — confirm it on College Board's own fees page, which is the only source that is authoritative on its own pricing.