student fees -- a cautionary tale

[engguy]

as some of you begin to receive letters of acceptance, and TA / fellowship offers, i'd like to remind you of a nasty little item, often buried in the fine print of your offer, known as student fees. some schools will spell this out in your initial conversation, some will mention it in their letter, all (i would think) are legally required to inform you about this, should you ask. HOWEVER -- notices of acceptance are highly irregular, and vary from school to school. sometimes you will get nothing more than a quasi-formal e-mail, or a series of phone conversations, informing you of the terms of your "package."

make sure to ask about student fees. just about every public university, i'd venture to guess, has them. they cover things like student activities, computer use, parking, commuting, etc. -- things you may or may not use but you will be charged for. these fall outside the realm of whatever tuition waiver you receive. generally they amount to no more than a hundred bucks or so a semester, and are no big deal. however, i wish to god i'd asked about them at the school i eventually committed to, because here they exceed $500 a semester. and nobody told me about them.

nobody told any of the incoming class of phd students about them. it was not, i don't think (though many of you may not believe this) a deliberate thing on their part. the dgs position was in transition and the incoming person didn't know about the fees; none of the professors i spoke with new about them either. or if they did, they had no idea that the fees were so high. i still have a very good deal, but needless to say this takes a large chunk out of my salary.

i would advise you, if there's any vagueness at all from the dgs at your school, to ask current students. i guarantee they will know to the dollar how much the fees are, and they can tell you if they've gone up considerably in recent years -- something else to watch out for. the dgs / professors are less likely to know much about this, because it simply doesn't affect them.

that's it; take it from someone who wishes he had gotten this advice last year.

[IvyHope]

interesting...my tuition waiver covers everything. $0 balance each time.

[engguy]

that's wonderful for you, and i'm assuming it's probably the same for many others. but for some of us, it's not.

in fact, one thing to add is that i was essentially lulled -- again, not deliberately, i think -- into believing that would be the case at my school. my official letter simply said "full tuition waiver." since nobody mentioned fees in addition to this, i assumed it meant that my balance, too, wd be 0. alas.

i was reinforced in this assumption by the forthrightness of every other school that made me an offer with regards to fees -- have them, don't, how much, etc.

so again i say -- it doesn't hurt to ask.

[miratrix]

I was actually warned about this at one of my schools - apparently the fees there amount to the price of in-state tuition. So if you get a half assistantship, you still have half the bill to pay in fees, if you get a full assistantship it covers both, and if you are from out of state, well, you're getting a bill no matter what.

[rising_star]

At every school I looked at for a PhD (7 total), there were/are student fees that are not covered by the tuition waiver. The cost per semester ranged from $75-$560. Also, not all schools cover health insurance though some mandate it so make sure to consider that when figuring out your pay. Like engguy, I learned the hard way to ask after my master's where I paid the school over $1K year for health insurance plus another $1K+ for student fees. If you're looking at state universities in places with budget cuts, I wouldn't be surprised if student fees went up...

[pikatopia]

Apologies for the potentially inane question, but are "student fees" different from "mandatory fees" ?

[engguy]

Apologies for the potentially inane question, but are "student fees" different from "mandatory fees" ?

probably not?

different schools will define this in different ways -- the key word to look out for, obviously, is "fees."

to make a very general statement -- and thanks, risingstar, for adding the bit about mandatory health care -- state schools' hands are tied somewhat in how much they are allowed to raise tuition from one year to the next. student fees are a way to shore up budgets, and schools have more flexibility with them. think of it as a tax on students that goes to very specific things -- a new sports facility, copy privileges at the library, etc.

to repeat: most public universities, unless they have a large endowment that covers these budget shortfalls or the fees, will not waive this portion of your bill. as risingstar notes, the amount will vary wildly from one school to the next, as will, possibly, the name they give it. ask. ask the dgs, ask the current students.