To take the edge off rising tuition, University administrators are attempting to save students money by curtailing the costs of the miscellaneous fees students must pay.
The University administration has relayed to various departments that student fee increases are to be avoided or increased only as much as necessary, Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leavitt and Associate Vice President of Budget and Finance Frances Dyke said.
“We’ve told people they need to be very cognizant of the pressures on students,” Dyke said.
Student fees pay for everything from transcripts to overdue library books to physical education classes, and they help the University pay for costs not covered by other revenue sources.
If certain schools or departments want their fee increased, the dean of the school makes a request to the University administration.
“There will be some fees that we’ll have to raise,” Leavitt said. “We’re looking at all these proposals pretty carefully.”
Many students pay a fee every term simply to continue their major. Students pay fees ranging from $30 to if they are studying architecture, science, multimedia design, journalism, business, landscape architecture, computer science, music or education. Law students pay a $3,125 fee, master’s students in business pay a $550 fee and undeclared students pay a $40 fee.
The College of Arts and Sciences — which includes popular programs such as psychology, political science and Spanish — requires its students to pay $40.
Sophomore Brandon Packman was less than thrilled about the $50 fee he pays each term for being a pre-business major.
“It’s B.S.,” he said. “What $50 gets me is a lot of junk e-mails.”
However, second-year architecture major Robert Stroup said the $50 he pays each term is a drop in the bucket.
“Fifty dollars is like two cents for me,” Stroup said, adding that he spends between $500 and $1,000 each term on architecture supplies. “So $50 really isn’t anything.”