SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EDMO has released The State of Automation in Admissions Report 2026, a new research report exploring how U.S. colleges and universities are adopting automation and AI across admissions and enrollment operations. The report examines how institutions are balancing enrollment growth with staffing constraints, manual processes, fragmented systems, and rising expectations for faster student support.
The report is based on an online survey of 40 higher education leaders from public universities, private universities, and community colleges across the United States.
Participants included CIOs, Vice Presidents and Vice Provosts, Registrars, and Directors with responsibilities across admissions and enrollment, academic records, technology, and operations.
Key findings include:
- Admissions Capacity: 70% of respondents cited staffing and workload as a major admissions challenge.
- Manual Workflows: 65% identified transcript and credit evaluation as a largely manual process.
- Automation Readiness: 47.5% rated their institution’s admissions automation maturity at 3 out of 5.
- Processing Efficiency: 62.5% said applications typically take between 3 and 14 days to process.
- Fraud and Integrity: 65% reported an increase in application or financial-aid fraud over the past two years.
- Student Support: 72.5% said their institution does not currently offer 24/7 or after-hours applicant support.
Manual Work Remains a Major Barrier to Scale
The research found that some of the most time-intensive admissions processes also remain among the least automated.
Transcript and credit evaluation was identified as the most manual admissions process, with 65% of respondents saying it remains largely manual. Document intake and indexing and identity or fraud checks followed at 52.5% each.
When leaders were asked where AI could deliver the greatest value, document processing and transcript and credit evaluation emerged among the highest-priority areas, followed by workflow automation, student communication, and data unification across systems.
The findings suggest that the next phase of admissions automation may increasingly focus on back-office and document-heavy processes where institutions continue to spend significant staff time.
Automation Adoption Is Still Developing
Despite growing interest in AI, admissions automation remains at a moderate level of maturity for many institutions.
Nearly half of respondents (47.5%) rated their institution’s admissions automation maturity at 3 out of 5.
The barriers to further adoption extend beyond technology. Budget constraints were cited by 65% of respondents, while 62.5% identified change management and staff readiness as a challenge. Participants also cited integration complexity and data privacy and security as barriers.
At the same time, institutions continue to place significant importance on human oversight. The report found that 65% of respondents consider human review of AI outcomes highly important, reinforcing AI's role as a tool to support institutional decision-making rather than replace it.
“The most meaningful use of automation is not simply doing the same work faster,” Fernando added. “It is redesigning workflows so technology handles repetitive tasks while staff can focus on decisions, conversations, and student interactions where human judgment matters most.”
Processing Delays and Student Support Remain Key Challenges
The report also highlights operational pressure across application processing and student communication.
According to the research, 62.5% of respondents said applications typically take between 3 and 14 days to process. Document collection and credential evaluation were among the stages most often linked to turnaround delays.
Student communication presents a similar capacity challenge. Nearly half of respondents (47.5%) reported average query response times between two and 24 hours.
At the same time, 72.5% said their institutions do not currently provide 24/7 or after-hours applicant support.
Application status and required documents were identified as the most common categories of student inquiries, highlighting the volume of recurring questions admissions teams manage throughout the applicant journey.
Fraud Concerns Are Increasing
Application integrity is also emerging as a growing operational concern.
The report found that 65% of respondents had seen an increase in application or financial-aid fraud over the previous two years.
However, identity verification remains largely manual. More than half of respondents (52.5%) said their institution relies on manual identity verification, while only 15% reported using automated identity verification.
The findings point to a growing need for institutions to strengthen verification processes as admissions and financial-aid workflows become increasingly digital.
What the Findings Mean for Higher Education
Taken together, the research identifies several areas that may shape the next stage of admissions transformation.
Institutions will need to build operational capacity alongside enrollment growth, reduce reliance on manual and document-heavy workflows, improve the speed and availability of student support, and strengthen system integration across the admissions journey.
At the same time, the findings show that higher education leaders continue to place strong emphasis on maintaining human accountability as automation expands.
The report suggests that the future of admissions automation will be less about replacing existing teams and more about creating the operational capacity institutions need to manage higher volumes, faster response expectations, and increasingly complex admissions processes.
About the Research
EDMO conducted The State of Automation in Admissions Survey in August 2026.
The online survey gathered responses from 40 higher education leaders representing public universities, private universities, and community colleges across the United States.
The survey covered enrollment priorities, operational challenges, automation maturity, application processing, document processing, transcript and credit evaluation, identity verification, fraud, AI adoption, student communication, response times, and system integration.
Given the sample size, view the findings as directional rather than representative of the entire U.S. higher education sector. They provide a snapshot of the priorities, operational challenges, and automation strategies reported by participating higher education leaders in 2026.
About EDMO
EDMO, the AI-powered admissions automation platform by iSchoolConnect, is purpose-built to help higher education institutions streamline enrollment operations and deliver better student experiences.
With over 3 million student documents processed and more than $10 million in institutional cost savings, EDMO delivers intelligent tools that streamline enrollment workflows, reduce administrative burden, and enhance student engagement across the admissions lifecycle.
Recognized as a Salesforce Fan Favorite Award Winner 2025, TDX Partner AgentPitch Winner, and a proud Slate Silver Partner, EDMO integrates seamlessly into existing CRM and SIS environments, helping universities work smarter without needing to rip and replace.
Trusted by leading institutions such as National University, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Pennwest University, Rowan University, and CSU Global, EDMO empowers admissions and enrollment teams with scalable automation, real-time insights, and AI-driven decision support.
For more information, visit https://goedmo.com.
Media Contact
Aastha Arya
Director: PR & Communications, EDMO
Phone: +91 9871354882
Email: aastha.arya@goedmo.com
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