The season of Advanced Placement (AP) testing is approaching in a matter of months, and students are beginning to register for these tests that they will be taking in May. However, this time around, there has been a change that has left numerous students and parents of North Hollywood High School (NHHS) rejoicing.
At NHHS, which has a Highly Gifted Magnet Program for highly gifted students who study a rigorous, challenging curriculum, many students are known for taking numerous Advanced Placement tests annually. As a result, they pay the registration fee for multiples tests each year. In the past, each test has cost $87, and $5 for those students qualifying for the free or reduced price lunch program. Many students, including seniors who were all ready to go to college, were required to pay for multiple tests, often spending large amounts of money. However, this year, the school has changed the rules, and now everyone is allowed to pay only $5 per test.
This is a significant change that has left many parents satisfied: “Thank goodness they did this- $86 per test was just way too much!” said Laura Huffman, a parent of a sophomore at NHHS.
To the students, there is nothing worse than having to pay such a large sum of money to take tests that they themselves dread. This reduced price has been a relief to them as well. However, this change has not been implemented in all schools with students that are taking AP tests. Many students in other schools still pay the original amounts for the tests- and this is because many students of schools fail to submit their meal applications for the federal lunch program. In fact, during the past years, North Hollywood High School has been having a difficult time in getting the majority of the school body to turn in the meal application as well, because there are so many students who do not qualify for the free or reduced price lunch program and therefore disregard the importance of still turning in an application. When a certain number of the school’s population turns in meal applications, the school receives a sum of money from the school district to use for school supplies and other purposes. Because North Hollywood High School finally achieved its goal of requiring the majority of students to submit an application, after ceaseless encouragement from the Title I Office, the school has received enough money to pay for some of the costs of the AP exams.
As a result, many students will be saving money this May. It is a relieving fact that students no longer have to spend such a substantial amount of money and carry such a heavy burden. “I have always felt so guilty about making students pay so much money for taking tests- especially seniors, to whom the tests do not even really matter anymore,” said Altair Maine, a science teacher from North Hollywood High School.
So far, this change has received much positive feedback from students, parents, and teachers alike, as they all hope for the long continuance of this reform in the future.
