Special Fees Charged for Courses

Effective: Moved to Policy Library from UPM 2.5(13)
Updated/Revised: December 22, 2008
Contact: Office of the Registrar

Introduction

Costs of offering a course are expected to be borne by the department offering the course, including materials related to the mechanics of teaching the course, such as course outlines, syllabi, exams, and similar handouts, and the purchase, maintenance, and replacement costs of instructional equipment. The department is also expected to bear the costs of staffing courses, including personnel employed to aid in the course such as teaching assistants and guest speakers. Exceptions to this basic principle arise when there are unusual and/or extraordinary costs associated with offering a course.

Policy Statement

Authorization to assess special course fees for exceptional costs will be granted on a case-by-case basis. Examples of costs that may be recovered by assessing a special course fee include:

Required travel costs for students to visit off-campus sites as part of the course
Consumable supplies, such as art supplies
Non-inventoried instructional materials used as part of the course

Delivery costs for offering a course off campus are not defined as special course fees and are not included in this policy.

Students are expected to pay the cost of supplemental written materials, such as supplemental readings, if they are to have ownership of the materials. The costs of supplemental written materials will not be assessed through the special course fees system. If the department does not wish to cover the costs of such materials, the materials should be sold to the students through the University Book Store or other local distributors. This procedure simplifies the financial transaction, and helps to avoid possible copyright infringement.

The fees must be based on plausible estimates of the anticipated costs or previous records of actual costs, and should be kept as low as possible. The deans' offices must keep complete and accurate records of the justification for any fee approved.

Publication of Special Course Fees

Students will be notified of special course fees in the Web Schedule of Classes on AccessPlus. Courses with a special course fee will have a note that includes a description of the special course fee and the amount of the fee.

The amount can be fixed or variable. The fixed fee is a fixed amount assessed to all students for the approved catalog biennium. Special course fees are variable when the fee amount can change from one term to the next, or from one student to the next, within the same term. Variable fees must have a range with a specified minimum and maximum amount.

Retroactive Adds

The Office of the Registrar will not assess special course fees on a retroactive add, as it is not cost effective for the university to try to collect this money after the semester of enrollment.

Late Current Term Changes

A request to change a special course fee is considered late after the 13th week of fall and spring semesters, and after the 10th week of summer semester. Late requests will be considered on an individual basis and should be submitted as a one-time exception.

Collection of Special Course Fees

The Accounts Receivable Office will collect special course fees on behalf of the departments.

Policy Library