UCLA profit from Applications
In fall 2018, the Univerisity of California, Los Angeles, had 113, 000 freshman applicants competing to go to their school. This was a record amount of applicants with an increased interest from California high school students. The amount of in-state freshman applicants increased by 12.5% or 71, 400 students from the previous year which also beats their last year's record of the increase of in-state applicants. Not only was there an overall increase in in-state applicants, but there was also an increase in applications from underrepresented groups on campus which was African-American, Chicano/Latino and American Indian of 13, 10 and 6 percent respectively.
Although most applicants are an incoming freshman, when we include the number of transfer students, UCLA received a total number of 137, 000 applications. With so many students, one starts to think about how the school can afford to educate them all and house them. However, with their 17% acceptance rate, only about 23, 290 students are admitted which means that 113, 710 students paid the application fee but got nothing in return, essentially they donate money to the school.
When I looked into it further, I found that the application fee for UCLA is $70 and when you multiply that by the 113, 710 students that aren't admitted, you get roughly $8 million. This means that just from people who aren't even going to UCLA, they get $8 million and individually, $70 is a decent amount of money but clearly worth it if you're applying to your dream school, but for them, the $70 add up.
Looking at college applications as a whole, I think it's insane how much money colleges make just off of applications. UCLA is obviously an extreme case because of the vast amount of people that apply, but in general, incoming freshman ends up spending hundreds of dollars on applying to schools, which in hindsight doesn't seem that expensive when they are expecting a $30, 000 tuition.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-breaks-applications-record-sees-steep-surge-in-california-applicants
Although most applicants are an incoming freshman, when we include the number of transfer students, UCLA received a total number of 137, 000 applications. With so many students, one starts to think about how the school can afford to educate them all and house them. However, with their 17% acceptance rate, only about 23, 290 students are admitted which means that 113, 710 students paid the application fee but got nothing in return, essentially they donate money to the school.
When I looked into it further, I found that the application fee for UCLA is $70 and when you multiply that by the 113, 710 students that aren't admitted, you get roughly $8 million. This means that just from people who aren't even going to UCLA, they get $8 million and individually, $70 is a decent amount of money but clearly worth it if you're applying to your dream school, but for them, the $70 add up.
Looking at college applications as a whole, I think it's insane how much money colleges make just off of applications. UCLA is obviously an extreme case because of the vast amount of people that apply, but in general, incoming freshman ends up spending hundreds of dollars on applying to schools, which in hindsight doesn't seem that expensive when they are expecting a $30, 000 tuition.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-breaks-applications-record-sees-steep-surge-in-california-applicants
College is a near necessity and, though there are many colleges to choose from, the pressure to apply to prestigious colleges is extremely intense. Even if you think there is 99% chance that you won't be in the top 17% of applicants, parents and friends will pressure you to apply just in case you are able to squeeze in. Many people would pay any price to have the chance to even have their transcripts looked at by UCLA simply due to the prestige that comes with attending the university. We are told that the connections we make in college could make or break our career, so how are you supposed to monetize that kind of opportunity?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Lisa! I looked into colleges in general rather than focusing on UCLA, and fund that 8 of the top 25 earnings from application fees are within the UC system. Application fees are a huge issue in our country because they limit the educational opportunities of those from lower-income families. For example, if you are affluent, you can afford to apply to dozens of colleges and increase your chance of going to university by applying to a larger amount. On the flip side, if you can only afford to apply to 2-3 universities and hey reject you, you don't have the option of continuing your education. Do you think universities should continue to charge application fees, or give everyone equal opportunities to apply?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.businessinsider.com/us-colleges-student-application-fees-most-revenue-2018-11
Super interesting post, it's really important to consider these admissions fee as a lot of students apply to multiple universities but often don't get in. So why are these admission fees even in place in the first place? Well, for starters, private colleges are actually considered businesses and businesses want to make money so these fees are one way to do that. Overall, schools need these fees to pay application readers, those who actually read through every application, and to make sure that students are serious about applying to their school. Without a fee, students might apply to a lot more schools and this would make it even harder for someone to get accepted. So while there is a cost to these fees for the students, it ultimately benefits the university and it is important to consider this situation from both the student and the school angles.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.collegeraptor.com/getting-in/articles/questions-answers/why-do-colleges-require-an-application-fee/
This is an intriguing read! Although it burns a hole in my wallet, there is part of me that agrees with the practice of having a price on college applications. Looking at the issue from the perspective of an admissions officer, it would be a pain to read tons of applications without getting proper pay. Plus, adding a price tag to an application may have the student questioning whether or not they really want to go-- saving money for the student and time for the reader, if the answer is no. The average UCLA admissions officer gets paid hovering 40K per year. While I'm not sure of the logistics of how officers are paid, whether it be based off a percentage or just a base salary, I know Californian Residents (esp. LA) typically need a much higher salary to maintain a comfortable life in the area. If the case is that they get paid more proportionally to the work they do, then I'd say we shouldn't scrutinize the price of college applications too much. To me, there is no doubt that in general colleges make WAY too much money banking off students but, I don't think cutting the funds for college admissions are necessarily the best solution to solving the issue of high debt of young people.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.careerbliss.com/ucla/salaries/admissions-officer/
Interesting post. Made me think that prestigious colleges are more like businesses as they are charging such fee although very little applicants get in. Looking into the topic though, application fees self-limit the amount of applicants a college can get. As a college applicant, one must be smart with its spending and apply to colleges in which they think they have a legitimate shot of getting in.
ReplyDeletehttps://247wallst.com/economy/2018/11/06/us-colleges-making-the-most-money-from-application-fees/
I was curious to find out more about why college charge so much for applicants, and I found something that interested me a lot. With the sheer number of applicants to some of the more popular schools, such as UCLA, the school probably does not want to go through that many applicants as it requires much more careful examination to identify the select few who will be accepted. Costs in applications can be useful to colleges in this regard, as they discourage students from applying unless the student feels qualified enough to have a shot at the school. In theory, this would lower the number of applicants that schools have to go through, speeding up their application process. However, in practice, I don't think this really works, especially from personal experience, as I believe many students apply to schools to have even the slightest chance of acceptance, even if it may cost nearly $100 to do so.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.top10onlinecolleges.org/faq/why-do-colleges-have-application-fees/
Hey Lisa. Your post reminds me of how much money I spend on my application fees, probably more than $1000. I think the fee wavier for college exists for a reason is that it helps students to make this application process more affordable. However, for majority of the students, the financial situation of the families does not support students to have the fee wavier. I would like to point out that there are top colleges in the US which do not require any application fee, such as Yale, Carleton, Wellesley, Colby, Smith, Reed, etc. From the free application fee, I think this would help the college to gain a much wider applicants who are simply interested in their colleges because applying to these colleges does not cost students any money. I think that waiving the application fee for all students would be beneficial to both students and colleges, and I think this should be widely implemented to more colleges in the future.
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