By
Christian Richardson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Kaplan, The Princeton Review offer loans, online classes
UA students readying for graduate, medical and law schools may also need to brace themselves for the cost of test-preparation courses.
Two University of Arizona-area test-preparation companies, Kaplan Educational Center, 845 E. University Blvd., and The Princeton Review, 1832 E. Sixth St., offer courses for the Graduate Records Examination for graduate school, the Graduate Management Admissions Test for business school, the Law School Admissions Test and the Medical College Admissions Test.
"We want our program to be affordable to all students," said Lisa Kennedy, Kaplan Tucson Center manager.
The Kaplan Center offers early-bird specials for students, Kennedy said.
The GRE is $899 for students who enroll before Sept. 30 and $999 starting Oct. 1. The MCAT is $1,199 if students enroll before Nov. 30 and $1,299 after that. The GMAT is $1,099 and the LSAT is $999, Kennedy said.
The Kaplan Center also offers private tutoring that ranges from $1,999 to $3,999.
The Princeton Review offers the same courses with similar prices. The GRE and GMAT are $899, the LSAT is $999, and the MCAT is $1,299, said B.J. Block, executive director for the Princeton Review in Tucson.
The Princeton Review offers free extra help to students that show an effort by continually attending classes, Block said.
Block said the prices for the tests are set nationally. He said the MCAT, set at $1,299, is expensive at UA, but on the East Coast or in California, the price is considered reasonable.
Albert Chen, director of graduate services for Kaplan, said the courses' prices are high to cover their production and development cost.
"We spend $4.5 million on production and development," Chen said.
However, online courses may be less expensive.
Kaplan's online service is beneficial to students in rural areas and abroad, said Katherine Engstrom, Kaplan spokeswoman. GRE, GMAT, LSAT and MCAT courses cost $499 online, she said, and are available at KapTest.com.
Engstrom said the program has been successful because it is available at all hours.
"It is so convenient to students. Sometimes they want to prepare for the LSAT at two in the morning," Engstrom said.
Kaplan, a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company, is 60 years old and 3 million students have taken its classes at 2,000 locations worldwide, Engstrom said.
Kaplan also offers courses to prepare for the Dental Admissions Test and the Optometry Admissions Test, Kennedy said.
Block said that The Princeton Review also offers online practice tests. He said starting this fall, The Princeton Review will launch a site where students can take a course online. He said he did not have an exact price but mentioned it would cost a "couple hundred dollars less."
Besides online and classroom test preparation courses, Kaplan Educational Center has free workshops to help students prepare for graduate school, Kennedy said. They also offer educational visas for international students who want to study in the United States.
Kaplan and The Princeton Review offer student loans to help students supplement the costs of the courses.
Kennedy said the loan application process is similar to the student loan application process used by the university. She said the student determines the time they want to pay back the loan.
Block said The Princeton Review offers partial scholarships and loans. He said the loan payments can be paid throughout the class.
Jenny Olen, ecology senior, said she did not use the test-prep courses because of the prices.
"They're too expensive," she said.
Olen said she bought a Princeton Review book for $30 to study for the GRE.
Kapil Chhibber, management information systems and finance senior, said he took the LSAT test-prep course through The Princeton Review. Chhibber said he went to that course because he heard it was good and that the classes were smaller than Kaplan's. He added that he received a scholarship for the course.
"I think it's really what you make out of it, what you put into it," he said.
