Richard Vedder, economics professor at Ohio University, reports that Harvard University has received about 4,000 more applications this year than it did last year. His hypothesis is that the jump in applications is due to the fact that Harvard recently announced new discounts for lower and middle income students; more students are now hoping to obtain these discounts. However, since Harvard's acceptance rate is so low, the vast majority of these applicants will probably be rejected. At the same time, Harvard charges each student $65 to apply.
So, by my calculations, Harvard is probably making $260,000 more in application fees this year (4,000 X $65) -- and possibly cheating 4,000 additional families of $65 each. And Harvard is not the only guilty school: every school that announced new discounts this year has probably received a bump in applications, without increasing their acceptance rates.
So the question for colleges is this: Where's all this extra money going? And isn't it unfair to encourage more students to pay expensive application fees, even though they have little chance of being accepted?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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2 comments:
Hi Marc,
I work in the admissions office at a small, very expensive, very elite liberal arts college. The application fee here also costs $65. I'm puzzled by the implicit assumption in your post that either 1)Harvard is not even looking at these 4000 extra applications from lower income students and is just throwing them away and greedily pocketing the checks that came with them or 2) Harvard is indeed looking at these 4,000 extra applications, giving each the full weight and consideration it gives every application, but that somehow this large additional number of applications can be processed at no additional cost to the admissions office. If I were to give in to my tendency towards cynicism, I would say that you actually know next to nothing about the admissions process and are not ashamed to reveal your ignorance about it because you think everyone will be so up in arms about the $65 Harvard is stealing from middle-class kids. The admissions office I work for spends, on average, ten employee hours on each application we receive, from handling the mail to entering data into computers to holding meetings, checking transcripts, reviewing essays and other material, reading recommendations, and all the other elements of the increasingly complex application packet. Now, I know that my salary is a good deal higher than $6.50 an hour - and since even the work-study students who help us out get $8.20 an hour, I think it's clear that, even in terms of just making payroll, the college loses a substantial amount of money on each application. Never mind the costs associated with the physical plant of the admissions offices, computers, heat, electricity, the benefits of the admissions workers, all the other functions the admissions office provides apart from just reading applications... Last year, on my trips around the country to visit schools, college fairs, interviews, conferences, etc, my air travel fees alone amounted to over $10,000, and I'm only covering New England! I hope your forthcoming book is less ignorant and pandering than this blog post, or else I'm afraid the only suckers will be those who buy it.
Peter,
Thanks for participating in the discussion, but it's not very nice to call someone "ignorant" just because you disagree with them. In fact, history is littered with people who were once considered ignorant and are now thought to be revolutionary pioneers. For example, anyone who thought the world was round was considered ignorant. Rosa Parks was considered ignorant for thinking she could actually choose where to sit on a bus. And several years ago, many people were considered ignorant for thinking that colleges could afford to waive loans for their students...but now it's happening at some!
So here's why I think that Harvard (and many other schools) can probably afford to waive college application fees, and why I'll be considered a revoltionary pioneer when it actually happens:
a) Harvard has $35 Billion in its endowment, and 76 colleges have over $1 billion;
b) Harvard has waived loans for many of its students, so surely it can afford to waive (or reduce) its application fees, especially for students who have low SAT scores and probably won't be accepted anyway;
c) The vast majority of colleges in this country are considered "non-profit" and allowed to pay no taxes, so they should give back to society by waiving their application fees;
d) Employers don't charge application fees when people apply for jobs. Employers run HR departments, which cost them money, but they don't pass along these expenses to their applicants;
e) Many colleges have already waived their application fees! About 300 schools, to be exact! Check it out at http://nosuckerleftbehind.blogspot.com/2008/03/colleges-with-no-application-fees.html
And I won't even call you ignorant if you didn't know that!
So there.
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