In the high competition of admission in top universities, it is common that every applicant must send lots of applications to different universities/programs to get approval for a PhD program.
Some universities charge an application fee. Why? This hinders many potential applicants.
For a research position (research associate, postdoc, etc.), the job advertisement system encourage as many as possible applicants to send applications. This gives more flexibility to select the best candidate.
Why do universities stop potential applicants for PhD applications with an application fee?
If the application fee is US$100, charging US$10,000 for 100 applicants is nothing for a university, but sending 10 applications ($1,000) is something for a student (particularly if coming from developing countries).
WHY do Western universities charge a small application fee, which is probably one month salary of a candidate from developing countries?