Students, Wonder What Your College Fees Pay For?

Are student fees being spent on things that support students’ education? With the rising cost of higher education, many students are starting to question how their money is being spent.

Watch CRC’s video on what student fees pay for here:

Most college students are required to pay “mandatory student fees” each semester that fund student activities on campus. The website Campus Reform reported on the astonishing statistics about mandatory student fees in a recent article about the University of Minnesota system. The article noted that student fees at a UMN campus could fund everything from the school’s “quidditch club” to the Feminist Student Activist Collective – regardless of whether the funding conflicts with the beliefs of fee-paying students.

These fees aren’t inexpensive, either. A recent report confirmed the rising price of higher education and the simultaneous lag in financial aid and, yet, mandatory student fees cost UMN students “between $336 and $873” each school year.

The hundreds of dollars in student fees are especially cumbersome for students who do not participate in, nor support, the activities that their student fees fund. Just last year, legislation was proposed in Minnesota to make mandatory fees that fund “noninstructional student programs, activities, groups, or services” optional – but the bill failed to pass.

If students are finally fighting against “free speech zones” at their institutions, then advocating for the reform of mandatory student fees should be next on their to-do list.