Colleges Cut Ad Spending by More Than Half in Last Decade

Universities are spending more than 50 percent less on advertising than they were 10 years ago. According to data compiled by the Postsecondary Education and Economics Research Center at American University, after peaking at $1.29 billion in 2014, advertising spending by higher education institutions dropped to $600 million in 2022.

The number of institutions buying ads has also dropped, from a peak of 46 percent of the sector in 2010 to about 35 percent in 2022. More than half of colleges in the U.S. do not advertise at all, the study found.

For-profit colleges account for about 88 percent of the total decline in spending over this time period. Heightened security from the federal government and a steady decline in enrollments at for-profit colleges likely contributed to the fall in spending, researchers hypothesized.

Still, the mean and median of spending diverge hugely, suggesting that a few big spenders are skewing the results. For example, the average spend per institution is $475,000 per year, while the median spend among for-profits is $98,000, compared to $56,000 and $73,000 for nonprofit and public institutions. PEER said it will explore those patterns further in future reports.

Researchers drew on proprietary data from Nielsen to track colleges’ spending on paid commercial advertising on television, radio, outdoor locations, websites and social media. Spending by media type shows a steep decline in local and national TV ads, from more than $500 million in 2014 to less than $200 million in 2022. Unsurprisingly, digital ads rose swiftly from 2016, peaking at $500 million in 2019, and just as quickly fell to less than $100 million after 2020.

Outdoor media spend, though lower, has remained consistent over the last decade and half, hovering around $120 million. Researchers suggested buying outdoor ads, including on billboards, benches and bus stops, indicated colleges are focused on attracting local students or students in a specific area.