The School Committee on Thursday awarded a $15,750 contract to FutureThink, LLC to conduct an enrollment study and forecast spanning 2027 to 2031.

Cynthia D. Mahr, the district’s chief financial officer, noted she issued a request for quotes (RFQ) in August and received four responsive proposals ranging in price from $15,750 to $108,072.

She focused on FutureThink and Demographic Analytics Advisors, which had a bid of $16,000.

Mahr ultimately recommended FutureThink. Not only was FutureThink the lowest bidder, Mahr noted she had worked with the company before in Wellesley, where it conducted four enrollment studies over the past 10 years.

FutureThink has worked with six school districts in Massachusetts, 225 districts across Arkansas and more than 570 districts for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, Mahr noted in her recommendation to the School Committee.

The fiscal year 2027 budget included $8,000 for the enrollment study. Mahr recommended using the International Student Revolving Fund to cover the balance of the cost.

According to Mahr, projected enrollment at the high school will help inform the number of available spaces for international students in future years.

That fund still has a balance of $350,000 to cover four or five related high school staff members, she said.

Mahr described three-year enrollment studies as “most accurate” and five-year projections as “OK,” adding, “A lot can change in a community in 10 years” regarding the standard time frame for these types of studies.

She said the power of enrollment studies is that the results are derived from demographic data, census tracks and collaboration with the town — gathering information about vacant lots and housing trends.

School Committee member Nancy Cavanaugh said that a trend in Hopkinton is families moving once their youngest child graduates from high school. In turn, someone else moves in with two school-age kids.

Mahr said the study could include information gathered from reaching out to realtors as well.

Most companies provide 10 years of data, Mahr said, which is helpful for future planning but unlikely to be relied upon five years down the line.

“I found too many changes happen, especially in Metrowest,” she said.

School Committee member Chris Masters said he believes enrollment studies should be done every five years. Superintendent Evan Bishop noted Hopkinton did them in 2020 and again in 2023.

The district’s school population has been slowing down in the last year or two, which prompted enrollment projections to be revisited, Bishop said at a previous meeting.

School Committee member Sandra Irwin asked why one quote came in so high, at approximately $108,000.

Mahr noted that to have an “outlier” bid of $50,000 to $60,000 higher than the rest is fairly common, but a $100,000 gap was a surprise.

The reason was that some communities are looking for comprehensive master facility planning, including infrastructural needs and not just population data, Mahr said. However, the RFQ was clear Hopkinton sought the latter, she clarified.

The next regular School Committee meeting is Oct. 15.