Admissions teams are working harder than ever—but is all that effort delivering real value?

For most institutions, measuring ROI (Return on Investment) in admissions isn’t even on the radar. While businesses track ROI to gauge how well their efforts are working, universities often skip this step. Instead, they focus on things like how many applications they’ve processed or how quickly they can make decisions, without considering the bigger picture – like resource usage, student success, and long-term gains.

The reality is that traditional, manual admissions processes are inefficient and expensive, and they’re not delivering the returns universities need.

What Goes Into the Cost of Manual Admissions?
Let’s break down the real cost of running admissions the traditional way. It’s easy to think about direct costs – things like staff salaries and operational expenses—but the true impact goes beyond that.

• Direct Costs

Admissions teams spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks—reviewing applications, conducting interviews, and processing documents. This means staff salaries are a big chunk of the cost. On top of that, there are operational expenses, from printing and postage to software tools that don’t quite cut it. And then, there's overtime—because let’s face it, during peak application seasons, the workload doesn’t just stop at 5 PM.

• Hidden Costs

Delays in the process mean fewer students getting responses in time, causing them to lose interest or commit elsewhere. This leads to missed enrollments, which could have been a perfect fit. And then there’s the administrative bottlenecks—long approval chains, paperwork errors, or lost files that slow everything down and waste time.

A Simple ROI Formula for Admissions
Now that we’ve covered the costs, let’s talk about how to measure the impact all this is having on your bottom line. The formula for ROI in admissions is actually pretty simple:

ROI = (Revenue from enrolled students - Admissions costs) / Admissions costs

It’s all about calculating the revenue generated by successful enrollments, then comparing that to what you’re spending to get those students through the door.

Imagine your university enrolls 1,000 students a year, with an average tuition fee of $20,000 per student. That’s a total of $20 million in revenue.
Now, let’s say your admissions process costs $500,000 annually, factoring in staff salaries, overtime, operational expenses, and the hidden costs we discussed earlier. Using our formula:

ROI = ($20,000,000 - $500,000) / $500,000 = 39

This means that for every dollar you spend on admissions, you're bringing in 39 dollars in tuition revenue.

But if your admissions process is slow or inefficient, that $500,000 could easily rise due to overtime, missed enrollments, and administrative delays.

Why Manual Processing Lowers ROI
If your admissions process is still fully manual, chances are it’s costing you more than you realize. Here’s how inefficient workflows eat away at your ROI:

• Slow Processing = Fewer Accepted Students

The longer it takes to process applications and make decisions, the more students lose interest or accept offers elsewhere. If your competitors are responding faster, you’re automatically at a disadvantage.

• Inconsistent Evaluations = Poor Student Fit & Higher Dropouts

Manual application reviews leave room for bias, subjectivity, and errors. This means some great candidates might be overlooked, while others who aren’t the best fit get admitted. Poor fit leads to higher dropout rates, which hurts both student success and long-term university revenue.

• High Labor Costs = Wasted Budget

Admissions teams spending countless hours on repetitive tasks – like reviewing documents, scheduling interviews, and writing reports – means high payroll costs with little efficiency. More work hours don’t necessarily mean better results; they just mean higher expenses with minimal return.

Time to Rethink Admissions ROI
Universities invest huge amounts of time and resources into admissions, yet many still don’t measure whether that effort is truly paying off. Manual processes create inefficiencies, drive up costs, and ultimately lower ROI. The question isn’t just how many applications your team can process – it’s whether your admissions strategy is maximizing value for your institution.

With growing competition and rising operational costs, relying on outdated admissions methods is no longer sustainable. Universities need to rethink how they evaluate efficiency, cut unnecessary expenses, and improve enrollment outcomes.

How does your institution measure ROI in admissions? Drop your thoughts – we’d love to hear your perspective.