Is $2,500 fee normal?

[Oddly Nice]

I recently accepted an offer from the university of great fit, and I was reading the admission letter thoroughly again and found out that although they waive tuition fees, cover insurance, travelling expense, etc., the fee is not waived and it costs about around $2,500 per semester based on 9 semester hours. I will have to pay for this. Is this normal amount of fee? I think because I am an international student, the fee is higher than the residents, but just wondering if fee this much applies to other universities. Thanks for reading and reply in advance.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I'm not sure about the amount itself, but I know some of my friends' schools didn't waive fees. They waived everything else though! I think it all depends. But I think its high because you are an international student.

[Oddly Nice]

13 minutes ago, Need Coffee in an IV said:

I'm not sure about the amount itself, but I know some of my friends' schools didn't waive fees. They waived everything else though! I think it all depends. But I think its high because you are an international student.

Thank you for the reply. Yeah, I mean, they've waived pretty much everything else and the stipend is generous for living even after netting the fee(net of 20k). But I guess what was bothering was that I will need to provide financial documents for that fee in order to get visa. 

[FeelTheBern]

4 hours ago, Oddly Nice said:

the fee is not waived and it costs about around $2,500 per semester based on 9 semester hours. I will have to pay for this. Is this normal amount of fee?

That seems pretty pricey to me. My SO will be attending NYU in the Fall and they waive the registration and service fees every semester, so I am not sure if it is common practice for universities to require their funded grad students to pay fees (possibly?). However, even so, I just checked the service fees at NYU and it is approx. $1,000 per semester for 9 credit hours. $2,500 per semester just seems like a lot to me, especially since NYU is known for being a ridiculously expensive institution to attend.

At the university that I am attending now, international students have a $100 "international student fee" tacked onto their bill, but that is the only additional fee that they have to pay compared to other domestic students. I would definitely get on the university website and see what all of these fees are for. $5,000 a year seems like a ton of money to require a grad student to pay when they are supposed to be funded.

In regards to providing financial documents, federal regulations require schools to make sure that the student will have enough money to pay for the academic year, so it makes sense that you will have to show that $5,000.

[TakeruK]

$2,500 per semester does seem a little bit high for fees. It's hard to know though without the details. You say that insurance is already covered and doesn't count towards this fee?

Normally, I would say one could expect fees to be around $500 or so per year without including insurance and then insurance can cost you about $500 to $4000 per year, depending if your TA or RA appointment comes with insurance coverage. Most funded offers include fees though, but I did see/get a few that did not.

[Oddly Nice]

44 minutes ago, FeelTheBern said:

That seems pretty pricey to me. My SO will be attending NYU in the Fall and they waive the registration and service fees every semester, so I am not sure if it is common practice for universities to require their funded grad students to pay fees (possibly?). However, even so, I just checked the service fees at NYU and it is approx. $1,000 per semester for 9 credit hours. $2,500 per semester just seems like a lot to me, especially since NYU is known for being a ridiculously expensive institution to attend.

At the university that I am attending now, international students have a $100 "international student fee" tacked onto their bill, but that is the only additional fee that they have to pay compared to other domestic students. I would definitely get on the university website and see what all of these fees are for. $5,000 a year seems like a ton of money to require a grad student to pay when they are supposed to be funded.

In regards to providing financial documents, federal regulations require schools to make sure that the student will have enough money to pay for the academic year, so it makes sense that you will have to show that $5,000.

Now I feel bad. Is $1,000 for international NYU students?! Mine is in a small country town where the rent is only $500 per mth(for an unfurnished, 1 bedroom apartment with washing machine and dryer)! I was thinking it was pretty good deal since all other universities in LA and NY pays $20,000 per 12 months as stipend for my program, but the one I accepted is paying $25,000 except summer. But I guess when it comes to fee, you don't net the stipend! Will bank balance showing $5,000 do, or do I have to have income that will support $5,000 X 5 years = $25,000? I am so confused right now.

 

15 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

$2,500 per semester does seem a little bit high for fees. It's hard to know though without the details. You say that insurance is already covered and doesn't count towards this fee?

Normally, I would say one could expect fees to be around $500 or so per year without including insurance and then insurance can cost you about $500 to $4000 per year, depending if your TA or RA appointment comes with insurance coverage. Most funded offers include fees though, but I did see/get a few that did not.

The detail. Insurance is about $1,500 per year and they provide this. The fee does NOT include the insurance. Now I hope it did. They basically say that these fees are for security, facility such as library, tech purpose and so on. I can see that the fee grew exponentially for the past few years. Do you think there is anything I can do, or should I just pay them?

[TakeruK]

You don't really have a choice about the fee---if you want to attend the school, you will have to pay it. What kind of program are you applying to? Is your offer fully funded otherwise? It sounds like the school is doing something where they separate tuition and fees so that the tuition waiver only covers a part of the costs unlike many other schools where the tuition waiver covers the majority of the costs.

But whether or not this is a bad thing depends on what's normal for your field and your program. If this is a research-oriented PhD program in the sciences, I would say this sounds fishy and I would be worried whether or not this is a good school that would give me the opportunities I want or does it exist only to make money from students. 

Also, whether or not you need to show $5000 or $5000 x 5 years depends on your visa status. Normally, F-1 status only need to show proof of funding for 1 year but I saw that someone else on the forums had their school ask for all 5 years. So you need to check with your school. 

[Happington]

The school I'll be attending is the same, with about a $2,300 fee.  Apparently some state law prevents the university from waiving fees, probably to limit the effects of a tuition waiver.  

At least for me, it's accompanied by a fairly high stipend in a fairly low-cost area, probably to compensate.

The school I'm talking about is a major publicly funded school.  While their website mentions that you need to show support for all six years of a PhD, other parts mention only your first years costs need to be liquid.

[dan_aqp]

At the University of California system there is a $15,000 fee, or $5,000 fee required as a non-resident tuition. Though most programs offer fellowships that cover this fee for the first year, it is harder to get the graduate division to cover the fee for the second or third year, since they assume students will be becoming California residents from their second year on, and then there would be no need to pay for the fee. Catch is that international students cannot become California residents ever, and we need to pay for that fee until we advance to candidacy. So, maybe it's not that bad to have a $2,500-5,000 fee instead. 

[MathCat]

23 hours ago, dan_aqp said:

At the University of California system there is a $15,000 fee, or $5,000 fee required as a non-resident tuition. Though most programs offer fellowships that cover this fee for the first year, it is harder to get the graduate division to cover the fee for the second or third year, since they assume students will be becoming California residents from their second year on, and then there would be no need to pay for the fee. Catch is that international students cannot become California residents ever, and we need to pay for that fee until we advance to candidacy. So, maybe it's not that bad to have a $2,500-5,000 fee instead. 

I attend a UC and this statement is not accurate for my experience. Here they cover it for 2 years for internationals. It is expected, in my department anyway, that you will advance to candidacy by the end of second year. This was explicitly stated in my offer letter. In the special cases when people needed more time to advance, the fee was always covered. Students in my department never actually pay this fee (as far as anyone I've talked to knows of, anyway).

[dan_aqp]

On 21/4/2016 at 1:14 AM, MathCat said:

I attend a UC and this statement is not accurate for my experience. Here they cover it for 2 years for internationals. It is expected, in my department anyway, that you will advance to candidacy by the end of second year. This was explicitly stated in my offer letter. In the special cases when people needed more time to advance, the fee was always covered. Students in my department never actually pay this fee (as far as anyone I've talked to knows of, anyway).

Unfortunately not all departments at UC's cover the non-tuition fee for three years that are needed to advance to candidacy in social sciences programs. I would be interested in finding resources for international students in California that would help cover this fee. 

[toxicdevil]

My university requires me to pay Commonwealth Facilities & Equipment fee and comprehensive fee a total of around 1250 per semester.

I did not have to show any money for visa because my I20 did not require any funds from me.