Sponsor Student Application Fees!
Last year, we asked our community to help support sliding scale applications for the Six-Week Workshop — and you came through! This gives us the confidence to continue, thank you!
We’ve seen a significant increase in applicants who cannot afford to pay for the application even at what used to be our early bird rate of $35. In 2024, our community sponsored 16 applicants who requested a full fee waiver, and altogether, 69% of our applicants used our sliding scale fees.
We know that we benefit from opening our doors to everyone who wants to apply — we’ve accepted several students who had to waive their application fee over the last few years. (Another way in which we do this is by securing as many scholarships as possible for our students. Read more about scholarships for the workshop here.)
This is where you come in! We’re hoping to make the process as accessible as possible: If you are someone who usually donates application fees, or if you’d like to do so, we will be managing a pool for applicants who can’t afford to pay, and to cover the balance for writers applying at a sliding scale rate.
Why do we charge an application fee? A perennial issue we face is the cost of the application cycle. It costs the organization approximately $15,000 annually to manage the technology, staff time, and reader honorariums to process applications for the Six-Week Workshop. The application fees have continued to fall short of covering our full costs for managing applications each year.
We are committed to equity and inclusion, which is why we continue to offer sliding scale rates. These rates follow our financial aid policy and allow applicants to choose the rate that best meets their needs for the duration of the application cycle:
- $15 Helping Hands discount
- $35 Supporting rate
- $60 Sustaining rate
How do these break down? The Helping Hands discount covers the bare essentials of the process. Supporting rates don’t fully cover the costs of application processing, but they do go a long way toward supporting the process. Finally, the Sustaining rate supports the full cost of application processing for every individual.
If the $15 fee remains a financial burden, applicants have the option to reach out to Clarion West staff for a fee waiver.
We are confident that we can rely on our thriving and supportive community to meet our financial bottom line. Please consider making a supporting donation today, and spreading the word!