by Chloe Jordan | tech editor
AP Exam payments have been extended to Friday, Feb. 6 at noon, after extreme weather conditions prevented students from being able to pay in cash.
“I think it’s helpful, because last week was technically the last week, and I’d hate it for the kids that needed to pay in cash. It wouldn’t be fair for them not to be able to have that opportunity,” College, Career, and Military Readiness Specialist Tenley Barrow said. “Although, we’ve only had like 25 students pay with cash in the last three weeks, which is why I’m a little concerned about them just coming in last minute.”
Payments were opened early on Feb. 1. Students have had three weeks to pay for AP exams.
“So, this Friday, Feb. 26 at noon [is the final deadline],” Barrow said. “If they don’t pay for their AP Exams, then a test won’t be ordered for them.”
AP exams take place in the entire month of May. One administration will be in-person and the other will be online.
“Some classes, let’s say you took a government class, just a spring semester government class, and you registered past a certain time, those aren’t going to show up on Skyward, so you’re going to have to come in and pay cash for those,” Barrow said.
There is no penalty this year for not taking the exam, so the usual fee has been waived.
“They’re able to go into Skyward and under the payment section, they can go in and cancel their test, like if they’ve decided for whatever reason they don’t want to take it, they do need to do that,” Barrow said.
Everybody is affected by procrastination to pay for exams, including the counseling office, students, and teachers.
“Well, the students are going to have to wait in a very long line if they wait until the last minute, so I think that’s probably their biggest issue and if it’s not in until 12 o’ clock, then I’m not going to order it for them. So, I’m not going to be doing any extensions or anything,” Barrow said.
Exams are 40 dollars and checks and money orders aren’t accepted. Students paying in cash should pay in the counseling office.
“I’d hate for them to miss this opportunity, but I just brought in the numbers and it’s over 2600 AP Exams that have not been paid for, so that’s a lot, just for this school,” Barrow said. “That’s a really big number, so the AP teachers of course are concerned as well.”
AP Exams are a cost-effective way to earn college credit for students who don’t want to pay for some college courses.
“And so you’re paying 40 dollars compared to the thousands of dollars you’re saving to take that one exam. So, even if it’s just one, you’ll save a couple thousand dollars of that,” Barrow said. “It saves you time as well. You won’t have to take that class later when you get to college, so I think it’s a great opportunity for you guys.”
