This paper aims to examine the application of cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis by public universities in Vietnam. In the context where Vietnam is gradually transferring financial autonomy to public universities, the conduct of a CVP analysis in relation to these public universities is particularly urgent. Research samples were collected in 2018 and 2019 by surveying Vietnamese public universities. After collection, the data is synthesized by excel file, conformity check, data cleansing and data analysis on SPSS software by tools such as Frequency statistics, price statistics, and means. The results show that: (1) universities used the CVP analysis in decision-making, (2) information related to the CVP analysis used for decision-making by administrators remained simplistic and lacked cost-control details, and (3) the application of the CVP analysis by university administrators for decision-making was neither comprehensive nor coordinated. The findings also show that, given the current conditions in Vietnam, increasing the governance in public universities is essential, as is contributing to reducing costs, increasing universities’ income, providing the best service to students, and improving the quality of training. The study calls for the flexible application of the CVP analysis, which will provide information to help managers at Vietnamese public universities make the best decisions.