To this day we are forced to get referrals. We are not just told we have to ASK but we HAVE to get atleast 6. They told us the reason for referrals was because they converted at such a high rate. I think the real reason is that probably 95% of the leads were paid for by UOP. Typically, a lead costs more as the progression increases. So if the student goes into a reg status it's $1,500. If they complete 4 classes it's $2,000 (not exact and leads vary by source).
With referrals the cost is close to zero. Additionally, if the accountants are slick, which they likely were, they would report those leads as assets owned by the company. They could go even one step further and report it as future revenue by multiplying the num of leads by the conversion rate. This can help when reporting periods come around.
I never called the referrals because students believed it was a personal referral not a referral to the school. I'd only contact the ones students verbally told me "call this person". It made you look like a MLM sales person.