UNO Eliminates Application Fee, Removing a Financial Barrier for Future Students

In a move to expand access to an affordable education, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is eliminating entirely the application fee required for domestic undergraduate admission consideration, enabling more future Mavericks to apply fee free for admission to the university.

In past years, Nebraska high school students could apply to UNO without paying an application fee by taking advantage of brief fee waiver programs led by the University of Nebraska System during portions of the months of September and October. Now, UNO is eliminating its domestic application fee entirely, enabling all new first-year, transfer, and non-degree/visiting undergraduate student applicants to submit their application to UNO without paying the $45 application fee year-round.

Rich Klein, Ph.D., vice chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness and Student Success, believes this opens doors for more students to pursue a degree from UNO. “Eliminating the application fee is UNO’s latest step toward making higher education more accessible and more affordable,” Klein said. “This presents an opportunity for savings for all future UNO students, particularly those who would qualify for federal assistance under Pell and free tuition under the Nebraska Promise, to finally pursue their goals of higher education by applying fee free.”

The Nebraska Promise provides free tuition for students who meet academic and family income criteria. Students are automatically considered for the program upon applying for admission and submitting their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The move to eliminate the application fee at UNO went into effect on August 1, 2023 for all domestic undergraduate students. Any applicants who have an application in progress or have applied since the beginning of the month will not be charged an application fee. Students can apply to UNO by completing the application process at applynow.unomaha.edu. Graduate and international students will be subject to an application fee.

Eliminating the application fee at UNO is the latest in a series of efforts to reduce financial barriers for students. UNO launched the Omaha Urban Rate (OUR) Tuition program earlier this year, providing students from 11 states outside Nebraska with access to significantly reduced tuition rates. The university recently announced that its efforts to incorporate Open Educational Resources, including low-cost or no-cost textbooks and course materials, into more courses had resulted in nearly $5 million in student savings since 2018.

The announcement was widely reported in the media by WOWT, KFAB & WHO, and KETV.