On Our Mind: Summer Tuition and Fees

Cartoon by Taryn Trousdale

At this point in the year, those who plan on taking summer classes have likely enrolled for the summer semester or will be doing so very soon. However, when enrolling for the summer, students should take a look at the tuition and fees list for summer classes and consider the cost they will encounter.

Tuition and fees for summer classes in general are normal. They are set at the same rate that part-time students pay during fall and spring semesters which is currently a rate of $152 per credit hour. While this seems normal at first, let’s consider the method of instruction used for summer classes.

A number of summer classes are offered only via the Internet. The fee for classes taught over the Internet or at distance education sites rises to $165 per credit hour. Then, students are charged an electronic media fee of $60 per course for classes taught via the Internet, Telenet or ITV.

While this may not seem like much of increase, consider how much a student would be spending for summer tuition with on-campus classes versus online-only courses. To reach the five hours required to be considered a full-time student during the summer, a student taking on-campus courses would pay a total of $760. A student taking one 3-hour online-only course and a 2-hour online-only course over the summer would incur a total of $945.

So why the difference of $185? We can only assume that the fees go toward such things as software licenses and equipment needed to conduct online courses, but is it really that much more than the costs incurred by hosting a class on campus such as utilities, salaries for positions such as custodians, the cost of maintaining on-campus computer equipment used by students, or photocopying classroom materials?

Aside from the issue of higher fees for online courses is the issue of campus privilege fees paid by summer students. The fees for summer students are the same as those for fall and spring semester part-time students. Is this really fair? After all, several privileges are not available during the summer semester.

The Bulletin and The Sunflower do not print over the summer, there are no athletics events during the summer, and most student organizations do not operate during May, June, and July. So why should summer students pay the same fees to have fewer campus privileges?

We don’t believe they should. We propose that when the time comes to set tuition and fees for the next fiscal year, that administrators and the Board of Regents consider these issues and make adjustments to the tuition and fees accordingly. Perhaps if summer classes were made more affordable, more students would take advantage of them and more students would graduate in four years instead of five.