In the United States, the barrage of advertising from colleges and universities is unrelenting. Colleges seem to advertise nearly everywhere—on TV, on the internet, and even on subway trains. Commercial advertising is among the most pervasive recruiting tactics used by postsecondary institutions, but we know very little about it. Just how much do colleges spend on advertising? The answer: a lot. In 2017, the most recent year for which data are available, degree-granting U.S. postsecondary institutions spent roughly $730 million on advertising—including TV, cable, outdoor, and online ads.
College advertising spending was even higher just a few years ago. It grew throughout the early 2000s, reached a peak of $1.2 billion in 2013, and has since declined. Trends in advertising spending appear to track patterns of enrollment in for-profit institutions, but with a lag. This correlation is not surprising. As we describe below, for-profit institutions account for the largest share of ad spending, but the smallest share of students: Degree-granting for-profit institutions account for about 40% of all higher education advertising spending, while serving just 6% of students. Among the institutions that advertise, for-profit institutions spend almost $400 on advertising per student, compared to just $48 per student among nonprofits and $14 per student among public institutions. These stark differences by sector remain when we control for other institutional characteristics that may drive advertising spending, such as size, level, chain status, and the percentage of online students.