Economy

US Colleges Making the Most Money From Application Fees

Paul Ausick

Published: November 6, 2018 8:15 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 3:19 pm

Applications from high school students wanting to begin their college educations next fall have already begun landing on admissions counselors’ desks and will continue in a rising tide through the end of January, with decisions mailed out around April 1. More than a third of would-be college freshman apply to seven or more colleges, and more than 80% apply to at least three.

Each of those applications includes a fee that can run from $10 to as much as $150, with an average of around $50. The fees serve two purposes, according to Mike Brown of LendEDU, a consumer-oriented website with information about financial products, including student loans.

First, application fees are revenue for the colleges, not profit. Every application is reviewed by at least one, and often more, professional admission counselor and the cost of those professional reviews is passed on to applicants and, more likely, their parents. According to the most recent report from the National Association of College Admissions Counselors, the mean number of applications read by a college admissions officer is 854, with a mean at public colleges of 1,472 and 494 at private colleges.

In addition to offsetting costs, application fees function to self-limit college-bound students from applying to hundreds of colleges. This may tilt the playing field toward students who can afford to pay more application fees, but many colleges will waive application fees for less financially able applicants.

LendEDU’s Brown reviewed application data from the National Center for Educational Statistics to come up with three different lists of 500 colleges: those that make the most money off total applications; those that make the most money of declined applications; and those with the highest yield (ratio of enrolled to admitted students).

Here are the 10 U.S. colleges making the most revenue from applications. LendEDU has included the total number of applicants, the fee (for students enrolled in the fall of 2016) and the total amount of revenue the fee generates.

1. University of California—Los Angeles
   Total applicants: 97,112
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $6.8 million
2. University of California—San Diego
   Total applicants: 84,208
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $5.9 million
3. University of California—Berkeley
   Total applicants: 82,561
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $5.8 million
4. University of California—Irvine
   Total applicants: 77,816
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $5.4 million
5. University of California—Santa Barbara
   Total applicants: 77,112
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $5.4 million
6. University of California—Davis
   Total applicants: 68,553
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $4.8 million
7. Boston University
   Total applicants: 57,441
   Fee: $80
   Total fee revenue: $4.6 million
8. University of Southern California
   Total applicants: 54,280
   Fee: $80
   Total fee revenue: $4.3 million
9. New York University
   Total applicants: 60,724
   Fee: $70
   Total fee revenue: $4.3 million
10. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
    Total applicants: 55,504
    Fee: $75
    Total fee revenue: $4.2 million

Here are the 10 colleges making the most revenue from students who were denied admissions, along with the revenue amount.

1. University of California—Los Angeles: $5.6 million
2. University of California—Berkeley: $4.8 million
3. University of San Diego: $3.8 million
4. Stanford University: $3.8 million
5. University of Southern California: $3.6 million
6. University of California—Santa Barbara: $3.5 million
7. Boston University: $3.2 million
8. University of California—Irvine: $3.2 million
9. Cornell University: $3.1 million
10. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor: $3.0 million

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Here’s the list of the 10 colleges with the highest yield of enrolled students from among those admitted. LendEDU includes the total number of applicants, the total admitted, the total enrolled and the yield rate as a percentage.

1. Robert Morris University Illinois
   Total applicants: 2,732
   Total admitted: 632
   Total enrolled: 551
   Yield rate: 87%
2. Stanford University
   Total applicants: 43,997
   Total admitted: 2,118
   Total enrolled: 1,739
   Yield rate: 82%
3. Brigham Young University—Provo
   Total applicants: 12,739
   Total admitted: 6,520
   Total enrolled: 5,246
   Yield rate: 80%
4. Harvard University
   Total applicants: 39,041
   Total admitted: 2,110
   Total enrolled: 1,663
   Yield rate: 79%
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   Total applicants: 19,020
   Total admitted: 1,511
   Total enrolled: 1,110
   Yield rate: 73%
6. The Julliard School
   Total applicants: 2,545
   Total admitted: 157
   Total enrolled: 113
   Yield rate: 72%
7. Southeastern Louisiana University
   Total applicants: 4,293
   Total admitted: 3,748
   Total enrolled: 2,616
   Yield rate: 70%
8. University of Wisconsin Colleges
   Total applicants: 6,029
   Total admitted: 4,548
   Total enrolled: 3,195
   Yield rate: 70%
9. Yale University
   Total applicants: 31,445
   Total admitted: 1,988
   Total enrolled: 1,367
   Yield rate: 69%
10. Fashion Institute of Technology
    Total applicants: 4,632
    Total admitted: 1,872
    Total enrolled: 1,272
    Yield rate: 68%

For the complete lists of all 500 colleges in each of the three categories, visit the LendEDU website.