Otherwise not really sure what my application fee is covering
Administrative costs. Really not any deeper than that. If the average admissions employee makes 50k/yr, that comes out roughly to 25/hr for a 40hr/week schedule. You have 5 people who work in academic student affairs offices, that's 250k/yr in admin costs just in labor alone. And that's assuming any of the clinicians who are also reviewing the applications are doing so on a volunteer basis (which the vast majority are).
That doesn't factor in office supplies, benefits packages for the employees, the dean's salary (which is a mix of admin, clinics, and research working way more than 40hr/wk), etc.
The cost of applying is a shift in perception. Normally when you're spending $100+ on a product or service, you do so because it's something you need/want, it's of a specific quality you expect, and (in theory) is from a specific company you chose from a group of companies that provide the same service.
That doesn't apply to higher ed in any way, especially graduate or professional degrees. There's no true capitalist forces at work to drive down costs while maintaining quality. You are not paying for an actual product or service. Applying to professional programs is way more analogous to buying a lottery ticket, thinking about it. You are paying for a chance.
And because of that financial dynamic, the schools have zero incentive to give details from multiple perspectives:
1) Lawsuits. Straight up. Due to the subjective aspects of applications, schools give general advice because of the risk of lawsuits from declined applicants.
2) Money and time (which is just more money). These programs are already underfunded. Not arguably. Definitely. And spending time to break down where an applicant went wrong is thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in labor depending on the number of applications. 2000 declined applicants at 5 minutes per applicant to give a break down of their low points is an addition 166.7 hours of labor, at 4200 in extra costs. Even though schools take in maybe 200-300k in application fees, weve already established that the salaries of the employees are barely covered by the fees.
3) Broken system in higher education. The bloated admin costs of higher education results in trickle down issues like this. And I would be willing to bet my OOS student debt we are going to have a reckoning in the next 20 years on higher education. A lot of schools and degree programs are closing now, and it's only going to get worse. I don't have a 529 set up for my toddler because I'm reasonably sure that education will be completely different in 20 years and he very well may not go to college.
There's a good YouTube video from several years ago that breaks down this unfortunate circumstance. I'll see if I can find it.
Keep in mind that the vet school admin offices are just as trapped as the students are. The deans have way less control than people think they do. Is a vicious cycle.