The cost of taking the TOEFL test in Iran was lowered near the end of May. The fee is now $220, down from $300. Regular readers will remember me whinging about the cost increasing there back in January, so needless to say I’m happy about this price cut.
Due to frequent collapses in the value of the Iranian rial versus the USD, test fees can be extremely onerous for students in that country. Here’s a short piece in “Science” from a couple of years ago which discusses this topic.
Interestingly, Iran has always been a big market for the TOEFL. It has been in the top ten countries sending traffic to this website for many years. Despite everything, the USA remains a top destination for Iranian scholars. Looking at my traffic for the past month, I can see that I’ve gotten more visitors from Iran than other big markets like Vietnam, the Philippines, Mexico and Germany.
That said, teachers currently in Iran have told me that President Trump’s recent travel ban has Iranian students eying alternative destinations, including Canada and the UK. That may depress TOEFL volumes in the country.