"Unless special circumstances apply, almost every college application comes with a cost. Most of the time, a college or university charges an application fee of around $50. However, the fee can range from as low as $10 to as high as $150.
Money generated from application fees is revenue for schools, not profit. After prospective students fill out mind-numbing forms and churn out college essays, someone on the other end must review those submissions to to help determine which candidates are the best fit.
The price of paying a professional to review applications is transferred to the applicant in the form of an application fee. The fees also prevent prospective students from applying to hundreds of schools and turning the already arduous process into something nearly impossible.
Nevertheless, it’s interesting to think that colleges and universities can potentially bring in millions upon millions of dollars in revenue solely from applicants.
For the third time, LendEDU has used college admissions data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to find out which schools are making a killing." …
https://moneywise.com/a/lendedu-colleges-make-most-money-from-applications