Brandeis University recently admitted the class of 2023, but from those students who weren’t admitted, Brandeis gained roughly $556,480 in application fees.
The $80 fee, however, isn’t paid by everyone. Out of 11,343 applicants this year, almost 30 percent applied with an application fee waiver, according to Dean of Admissions Jennifer Walker. About 1,027 students have been admitted, according to the MyDeis 2023 FaceBook group.
Of the total number of students who paid the fee, admitted and not admitted, Brandeis made approximately $638,640.
“The application fees are an institutional revenue source that helps to support the overall University,” Walker wrote to The Brandeis Hoot in an interview.
Brandeis, like other peer institutions, offers applicants application fee waivers pursuant to a set of guidelines. According to Walker, 3,360 students applied to Brandeis with a fee waiver this year. These include students who receive public assistance, live in federally subsidized public housing and students enrolled in the federal free or reduced price lunch program, among others, according to Walker.
“Brandeis University works to support students in the college admissions process and also encourage access to a college education,” wrote Walker to The Hoot in an email. “Applicants may submit a fee waiver if the Brandeis admissions application fee is a financial burden to their family.”
During the application process, students can let the university know that they intend to submit a fee waiver on the application. Brandeis’ guidelines for eligibility include if their family income meets the Income Eligibility guide set by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service–a guideline that determines the eligibility of a student for free and reduced price meals, or free milk, according to the United States Department of Agriculture website.
These guidelines also include if the student is a ward of the state or an orphan, and students can provide statements from various officials, such as a school counselor, religious or community leader or community based organization, to help support their financial eligibility, wrote Walker.
Not all fee waivers come from Brandeis. Students can also receive fee waivers from third parties, such as the College Board, the ACT and National Associate of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) among others, according to Walker.
Of the 11,343 applicants, not all students have been admitted and won’t be until the end of the waitlist period on May 1. But students already admitted through early and regular decision have been admitted to the Brandeis MyDeis 2023 Facebook group, and the number is at 1,027, discounting the 15 administrators of the site.
The site Lend.edu aggregated the amount of money colleges and universities make off of rejected students’ application fees. Brandeis is ranked at number 93 for the 2016-2017 application cycle, though the site operates “under the assumption that each and every applicant to a respective school had paid the full application fee for that respective school, which is likely not the case,” reads the site. Accounting for application fee waivers would put Brandeis at a lower ranking.
The author of the Lend.edu article, Mike Brown, said that the process of aggregating all of the data was simple, in an interview with The Hoot. Lend.edu uses data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which is provided by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The amount of money that Brandeis made off of rejected applicants–$556,480–is slightly higher than the salary of a high-level administrator at Brandeis, such as the President or the Provost.
