How are college admissions budgets changing as institutions adapt to changes in technology, student behavior, and the college admissions process?
Ruffalo Noel Levitz polled enrollment managers on this question as part of our 2018 Cost of Recruiting an Undergraduate Student Report. We asked these institutions how their budgets were changing overall, as well as which areas would see greater increases or decreases. The poll included four-year public and private institutions.
Overall changes in college admissions budgets
First, respondents answered how their budgets for the 2017-18 cycle changed compared to 2016-17, and also the 2016-17 budget compared to the previous year.
For four-year privates, nearly one in three said they had a budget decrease for the 2017-18 year, compared to just 7 percent of four-year publics. About one in four private and public institutions said their budgets would increase, while the largest majority across both sectors said their budgets would stay the same.