Matchmaker Notchup, which takes 35% of the interview fee, grossed just $87.50 on Furukawa's move.
The high cost of participating in the program can be a significant hurdle for prospective au pairs, who are required by agencies to pay for a range of incidentals, which may include "processing fees," embassy-interview fees, visa-application fees and even airfare supplements.
Visa applications, interviews and fees can all create obstacles to entry.
For Ms. Seitz and for the others interviewed, the fee of $15 an hour is the primary motivation, but not the only one.
Reiss Akhtar, 17, who has a place to study English literature at Cambridge, benefitted from that – he had four weeks of coaching to support his application and sat two mock interviews at fee paying schools; one at Eton and one at Brighton college.
Network news divisions sometimes pay interview subjects "licensing fees," ostensibly for photographs or video.
Mr. Belabre, who had worked as an administrative assistant under Mr. Eugene before replacing him as executive director, said in an interview that the fees were optional for people who wished to contribute to the group.
First of all, The Interview's rental fees were just too low.
Similar trends have been highlighted by Citizens Advice, which reported that seven in 10 potentially successful cases are now not being pursued by employees, with over half of those interviewed saying the fees or the costs were deterring them.
Mr. Lembcke said in an interview that the fee change had been planned last fall, before the election, and that $200,000 was the cost before 2010, when it was cut in half because of the recession.
