2008 Woodie Awards
The Shady Side of Student Fees
By Chris Phillips
9/10/07 - Opinion
Money. It's the magical substance that we spend to go to a prestigious college in the hopes of making more of it back than what we've spent. The soaring costs of tuition have been a big deal in the political arena over the past few years, and these increases have been further punctuated by the fact that student fees have been growing not only in their respective costs but also in the number that we pay.
Here's a few numbers (just to get them out of the way). The earliest that I can go back on trailhead is fall 2005, but the numbers are pretty telling to me. In fall 2005, according to my student bill, I had a total of 7 separate student fees totaling about $445. This fall, I have the "joy" of paying a total of 11 student fees totaling about $795. So, over the course of the last two years, my fees have increased by roughly 79%. Two words: Holy Cow. Now, I understand that some of these fee increases were voted upon directly by the student body (namely the increase in the Associated Students Fee and the addition of the Intermodel Transportation Fee), but I still can't help but question the increases in some of the other fees.
There are two fees, however, that are of particular interest for the sake of this discussion. The first was implemented last fall and is the "Tuition Surcharge Fee". This $6.50 per credit hour fee was added to Resident student bills "in lieu of an inflationary increase" starting in Fall 2006. But hold on. Why is it in lieu of an inflationary increase? And why didn't it change from year to year (due to inflation)? And why weren't we informed of this more publicly? I'm a card-carrying e-mail packrat, and could find no reference to this in my e-mails that I've saved since I got here. It was added in without any fanfare - and now it's here to stay apparently. I understand that inflationary increases are necessary (inflation is an economic reality), but why add a fee instead of adjusting tuition? According to the school's FAQ, it was "deemed more appropriate" to add the fee vs. raise tuition- why? But don't take my word for this, see for yourself at http://www.is.mines.edu/budget/Budget_current/Tuition_FAQ.pdf
Here's a few numbers (just to get them out of the way). The earliest that I can go back on trailhead is fall 2005, but the numbers are pretty telling to me. In fall 2005, according to my student bill, I had a total of 7 separate student fees totaling about $445. This fall, I have the "joy" of paying a total of 11 student fees totaling about $795. So, over the course of the last two years, my fees have increased by roughly 79%. Two words: Holy Cow. Now, I understand that some of these fee increases were voted upon directly by the student body (namely the increase in the Associated Students Fee and the addition of the Intermodel Transportation Fee), but I still can't help but question the increases in some of the other fees.
There are two fees, however, that are of particular interest for the sake of this discussion. The first was implemented last fall and is the "Tuition Surcharge Fee". This $6.50 per credit hour fee was added to Resident student bills "in lieu of an inflationary increase" starting in Fall 2006. But hold on. Why is it in lieu of an inflationary increase? And why didn't it change from year to year (due to inflation)? And why weren't we informed of this more publicly? I'm a card-carrying e-mail packrat, and could find no reference to this in my e-mails that I've saved since I got here. It was added in without any fanfare - and now it's here to stay apparently. I understand that inflationary increases are necessary (inflation is an economic reality), but why add a fee instead of adjusting tuition? According to the school's FAQ, it was "deemed more appropriate" to add the fee vs. raise tuition- why? But don't take my word for this, see for yourself at http://www.is.mines.edu/budget/Budget_current/Tuition_FAQ.pdf
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