The study by AIRC: The Association of International Enrolment Management drew data from over 60 institutions of varying size across the US, providing insights into commission models and recruitment partnership management as the sector faces growing market pressures.
AIRC executive director Clay Harmon said it was “more important than ever” for institutions to make informed strategic decisions about their agency partnerships, with the report intended to assist colleges and universities in the rapidly evolving landscape.
Harmon told The PIE News it was interesting to see a wide range of responses in this initial survey – something he said was understandable given there hasn’t been any benchmarking data in the past.
“Higher education institutions tend to lean heavily into norms and base many decisions on their peers’ actions and behaviours,” he added. “It will be interesting to watch for trends in future editions of this survey and to see whether commission rates and practices start to coalesce around accepted norms.”
Among its key findings, the report revealed that 64% of institutions use a standardised commission model, often incorporating tiered or escalator structures tied to agency performance. And commission management is typically centralised within international admissions and finance offices.
Meanwhile, nearly half of respondents said they offered fixed-rate commission, with this and net-tuition models replacing traditional gross-tuition percentage models. The most common structures are 15% of net tuition or fixed payments between $2,000 and $3,500 per enrolled student.
More than six in 10 institutions have up to 20 agent partners, while 13% had over 100, the report revealed.
Notably, for sponsored students recruited via agents, 75% of institutions said they must receive all tuition and fees before issuing commission payment.
In addition to receiving commissions from institutions, Harmon said most agencies also generate revenue from students by charging fees for their advising and application support services to supplement their income and balance cash flow since institutional commissions are slow and only arrive after the agency has done the work.
Consequentially, “agency members on the ground are more directly and immediately affected by changes in student behaviours and destination market policies and perceptions”, said Harmon.
International enrolment management is a relationships-based business, and those who stick with their relationships will be much better positioned to rebound when circumstances improve
Clay Harmon, AIRC
“Fewer interested students means fewer student fees which upends the company’s cashflow assumptions in the immediate term. We have heard from many AIRC-certified agencies that the current difficulties in securing visa appointments are particularly challenging and frustrating,” he said.
Meanwhile, many US institutions are facing the challenge of balancing shrinking institutional budgets with the need for increased staffing and operational capacity to support their agency relationships.
The report found that many institutions are investing more heavily in agent communication and training, while continuing to prioritise in-country engagement with partners. Nearly three-quarters said they offered on-demand agency training.
“International enrolment management is a relationships-based business, and those who stick with their relationships will be much better positioned to rebound when circumstances improve,” said Harmon.
Other institutions, however, are cutting back or even eliminating their international student recruitment operations due to significant budget challenges – something Harmon said was “understandable” given each institution’s “idiosyncratic budget scenario and difficult choices”.
“But of course, we would prefer to find ways to support institutions staying in the game for as long as they can,” he said, recommending that, where possible, they make use of limited staffing resources by maintaining a smaller number of more effective agency partnerships rather than large numbers of poorer performers.
