When I graduated from BYU, a private university, and enrolled at CU, a public university, one thing I was not expecting was student fees. BYU has student fees but they total something like $100 per semester and maybe $50 more if you wanted a parking pass. When I got to CU I found out that at public schools student fees are considerably higher. At CU tuition increases require approval from the state legislature, while fee increases can be enacted simply with the approval of the student government and the campus administration. So when the law school needs a new building and the legislature says no to tuition increases, guess where the money comes from?
I thought it might be interesting then to see what our loyal readers (and writers) at other schools have to deal with. Below is a quick survey of how much you get charged per semester. I'll release the results in a follow-up post in the next week or two. Enjoy!
My oldest starts at a public University this fall. I'll let you know then.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteI hate to break it to you but the physics and astronomy department covers all our university fees so that the total out of pocket expense is: $0. (We also get a free parking pass that if we give up we get a $50 gift certificate for the bookstore. :))
While my department covers tuition and health insurance, it does not cover student fees. The fees are taken out of our stipend. This would not be a problem except for the high rate of the fees, and what the fees are used for. For example for the 2010-2011 school year, $207 of my fees (that is $207 per student) are used for servicing the university's debt. The debt was incurred because the university wanted to build a new building but did not bother to actually get the money first. Or, as in the case with one of the dining halls on campus, the state legislature mandated an enrollment increase, but did not provide money for corresponding infrastructure (i.e. dinning halls). Thus the university had to go into debt and the students have to fork over the money to pay for the loan (not just the building cost, but the interest as well...sigh if only they had actually planned it better...).
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteYou are a lucky, lucky man. In Colorado it is actually against state law to use departmental funds or federal grants to cover student fees. Why? Because Colorado hates spending money on education. That's right - we're 49th in state per capita spending on higher education. We beat Mississippi!
I'm with Joseph on this one. I don't even know how to answer the survey because someone (not me) pays my student fees (I assume it's a combination of my advisor and the dept.).
ReplyDeleteThough I do have to pay for my own parking pass (which the university greatly discourages).