Charging course application fee ‘increases enrolments’

Business schools that charge students to apply for courses see fewer applications but more enrolments, according to new data.

The 2025 Admissions Conversion Benchmark Study, conducted by student recruitment firm and software company Full Fabric, analysed the admissions and applicant data from 19 leading business schools across nine European countries, including ESCP Business School, University of St Gallen, IMD and Warwick Business School.

It found that two-thirds of programmes analysed (66 per cent) charged an application fee, with a median cost of €100 (£85). When compared with similar courses that did not have a fee, they had around 10 percentage points fewer applications submitted, but about 12 percentage points more of their admitted candidates enrol.

Tania Roquette, report co-author and vice-president at Full Fabric, said they often get asked if introducing an application fee will deter students, but this has been shown not to be the case.

“The programmes that have an application fee actually, once they submit, they yield a lot more. So, you might have effectively less applications, but the applications that you have are a lot more committed than if you don’t have an application fee, and the quality is a bit higher and so they end up converting a lot better.”

Roquette said that, as a result, she could foresee “more and more” business schools adopting the approach.

The report found that full-time MBAs receive about four submitted applications for every place – the most of any business school qualification. Around 20 per cent of prospects start an application, 33 per cent of started applications are submitted, 62 per cent of submitted applicants receive an offer, and just 51 per cent of those admitted enrol. 

While this was the median enrolment rate across the schools analysed, the highest enrolment rate was 96 per cent at the most highly ranked business school. 

Roquette said: “Full-time MBAs have no shortage of applicants, but the competition for candidates is won or lost after the offer has been made.”

She told Times Higher Education that universities often “go silent” after offering places to students, which may be leading to their taking up places elsewhere.

She noted that students often have five or six offers from different business schools, and she said that to boost conversion rates universities should “proactively engage with students at that point with specific content on accommodation, helping with visas, and helping with all of the onboarding – all of that really helps keep up a community.

“I think the biggest difference is for the universities that are actively nurturing and engaging so that students already feel emotionally connected with the university.”

Summer school programmes had the highest enrolment rate at 92 per cent, followed by short executive courses at 84 per cent, and executive certificates and diplomas at 83 per cent.

“Small improvements” to conversion rates can have significant financial gain, the report outlines. For the median bachelor’s programme, an increase of five percentage points at a single stage, such as the share of admitted candidates who enrol, can see an extra 22 to 24 students taking courses, and up to €880,000 in additional tuition. For the other degree programme types, the same gain is worth between about €150,000 and €490,000, it says.

Roquette said that a “key student expectation” is increasingly having flexibility in their programmes. Fewer companies are providing funding for business school degree programmes, she said, and instead prioritising funding for shorter courses, including micro-credentials and shorter executive programmes. Universities should also make it easier for students to move from full-time MBA courses to part-time course if students get a job amid their studies, she said.

“I think universities used to be very siloed in their programmes, but nowadays that’s changing. They’re allowing networking across programmes and flexibility for students to adapt the programme based on where they are in their career, and in their personal life.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com