The Advanced Placement (AP*) Program is governed by the College Board. There are over 30 college-level courses available, most of which are offered in our local Kentucky high schools. Students take an end-of-course exam and, based on their numerical score, may be awarded college credit for the course.
*Advanced Placement, AP and Pre-AP are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board
AP Exam Fees from College Board
For the 2022-2023 school year, the College Board will charge $88 per standard fee exam and $136 per standard fee exam for Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone™ exams (AP Seminar and Research).
The state of Kentucky will pay for AP exams for students eligible for College Board fee waivers. The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE) Computer Science and Information Technology (CS/IT) Academy also will pay for all AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and AP Computer Science A (CSA) exams for public school students in the state. Finally, KDE will pay the majority of the cost for all AP standard fee exams as well. See below to learn more.
State Funding for Fee-Reduced Students
Fee-reduced students are students who qualify for the College Board fee reduction of $34 per exam. For eligibility criteria, visit AP Exam Fee Reductions.
For fee-reduced students in public schools, the state of Kentucky will pay:
The final fee for any AP exam (including AP Seminar and AP Research exams) for fee-reduced students is $0 during the 2022-2023 school year.
State Funding for Standard-Fee Students
Standard-fee students are those who do not qualify for the College Board fee reduction. For standard-fee students in public schools, the state of Kentucky will pay:
$78 per AP exam, excluding AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and AP Computer Science A (CSA) exams, taken by standard-fee students.
$126 per AP Seminar exam and AP Research exam per standard-fee student.
The final fee for any AP exam (excluding AP CSP and AP CSA exams) for standard-fee students is $10 per exam, or $19 per exam if the school does not forego its $9 rebate during the 2022-2023 school year. This rebate is optional for all AP programs.
State Funding for AP CSP and AP CSA Exams
The KDE Computer Science and Information Technology (CS/IT) Academy will pay in full for all AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and AP Computer Science A (CSA) exams for public school students in the state. Therefore, for public school students, the state of Kentucky will pay:
$88 per AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science A exam taken by standard-fee students.
$53 per AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and AP Computer Science A (CSA) exam taken by fee-reduced students.
The final fee for an AP CSP or AP CSA exam for any public school student in Kentucky is $0 during the 2022-2023 school year.
What Schools Must Do
Your school’s AP coordinator must take the following steps.
Before the exams:
For your invoice to accurately reflect any fee reductions, the AP coordinator must indicate the fee reduction status for each eligible student in AP Registration and Ordering.
For each student who is eligible for the AP exam fee reduction, check the box for reduced fee next to their name in the student roster.
For students who aren’t eligible for the fee reduction, no action is needed.
Once a student’s fee reduction status is indicated as reduced or left as standard in AP Registration and Ordering, the Kentucky state subsidies will automatically be calculated and applied.
A best practice is to indicate the fee reduction status for each student by the time you submit your exam order, if possible, to ensure you have time to plan for and collect the appropriate exam fees from students. However, if you need more time to verify this information, the deadline to indicate students’ fee reduction status in AP Registration and Ordering is April 30, 2023 (11:59 p.m. ET).
After the exams:
Your invoice will be sent to you via email after the late-testing administration. At that point, you also can access and print the invoice through AP Registration and Ordering.
In summary, College Board would collect AP Exam fees from public schools in Kentucky as follows:
Fee-Reduced (Low-Income) Students:
$0 per AP exam, including AP CSP and AP CSA exams, per fee-reduced student
$0 per AP Seminar exam and AP Research exam per fee-reduced students
Standard-Fee Students:
$10 per AP exam, excluding AP CSP and AP CSA exams, taken by standard-fee students
$10 per AP Seminar exam and AP Research exam per standard-fee student
AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) Exams and AP Computer Science A (CSA) Exams:
Additional Fees
College Board will bill KDE directly for its share of the qualifying students’ AP Exam fees.
June 15, 2023 is the postmark deadline for payment due to College Board.
AP coordinators do not need to submit a copy of their invoice to KDE.
In the event KDE should ever need to verify the validity of a school’s request for fee reductions, all schools receiving AP exam fee funding from KDE must keep a list of students receiving the fee reductions, including which exams students have taken, on file at their school.
AP Professional Development Opportunities
Research shows that professional development for teachers increases performance in Advanced Placement courses.
AdvanceKentucky
AdvanceKentucky's mission is to work with local, state and national partners to dramatically expand access to and participation and success in rigorous college-level work in high school, particularly among student populations traditionally underrepresented in these courses.
Regulations
Regulation 702 KAR 3:220 KDE's interpretation of Regulation 702 KAR 3:220 is that the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exam fees fall within the fee categories described in this regulation. As such, these fees are to be waived by the district for students who are eligible for free OR reduced price lunch. Therefore, districts should not be collecting any amount of the fee from these students and instead paying the amount, after the federal grant funds are applied, from general funds just like they do for other fees required to be waived for these students by this regulation.
KRS 160.348 (3) While this statute requires costs of the AP examinations to be “… paid by” the KDE, the General Assembly has not provided an appropriation to provide the funding for this statute.
Senate Bill 1 states that school report cards will report the Advanced Placement courses offered, the number of students enrolled, completing and taking the examination for each course, and the percentage of examinees receiving a score of three (3) or better.