It costs money for colleges to review applications for admission. But some of them – particularly in California – make a lot of money off the applicants they reject.
LendEDU’s annual survey of how much colleges earn from application fees, both rejections and total, reveals the dominance of the University of California system.
Half the top 10 earners in rejected application fees are UC campuses, led by the Los Angeles campus with nearly $5.6 million. Together those five UC campuses – also Berkeley, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Irvine – earned nearly $21 million from applicants they reject.
The top 10 together earned nearly $38 million from applicants they rejected. The highest-paid non-UC campuses were also in California – Stanford University with $3.8 million and University of Southern California with $3.6 million.
Only one Ivy League school made the top 10, Cornell, with $3.1 million in application fees from rejected students.
LendEDU noted that some schools punch far above their application numbers by the steep fees they charge to apply. All the top 10 in rejections charge $70-90, but the Berklee College of Music charges $150. That means the small music school earned $915,000 off the students it rejected.
UC schools dominate even more when it comes to revenue from total application fees, including accepted applicants. The top six are UC campuses, with Davis at No. 6. It’s No. 13 in revenue from rejections.
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