Course Fees
Effective: Moved to Policy Library from UPM 2.5(13)
Updated/Revised: August 15, 2025
Contact: Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost
Policy Statement
General costs related to the development, instruction, and offering of a course are expected to be borne by the college or department offering the course. Course fees, charged to students, provide a distinct resource to enhance educational experiences essential to achieving a course's learning outcomes beyond what is ordinarily provided.
Definition and Examples
Course fees: Fees charged to students, providing a distinct resource to enhance educational experiences essential to achieving a course’s learning outcomes beyond that ordinarily provided. Course fees may be assessed to cover expenses incurred in the current semester or to support larger investments that enhance the course and benefit students over multiple years.
Variable course fees: Fees assessed for different sections of the same course within the same term that are expected to incur materially different costs—most commonly due to differing travel locations. In rare cases, other unique instructional circumstances may also warrant a variable course fee. All variable course fees are subject to approval by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost.
Examples of costs that are permitted as course fees:
- Amortized replacement costs of equipment used in the course, with an expected usable life of less than five years. Examples include equipment used for a particular course and not a particular department.
- Equipment rental. Examples include athletic equipment used in a kinesiology course.
- Instructional materials and supplies used as part of the course. These are items with a unit cost of less than $5,000. Examples include laboratory items and teaching aids.
- Maintenance costs of instructional equipment used for a particular course.
- Salary, wages, or stipends for personnel dedicated to supporting instruction beyond what is ordinarily provided, particularly in courses with specialized equipment, environments, or instructional formats.
- Required travel and participation costs for enrolled students to visit off-campus sites. This includes the cost of the instructor's travel and admission when accompanying students.
- Rental costs for the use of facilities that support essential instruction beyond what is ordinarily provided.
Examples of costs that are not permitted as course fees:
- Delivery costs for offering a course off campus.
- General-purpose computers.
- Guest speakers or presenters.
- Hospitality expenses for non-instructional use.
- Costs related to space needs, infrastructure, or FP&M projects. Examples include facility upgrades, building maintenance, or capital improvements.
- Material related to the mechanics of teaching the course, such as course outlines, syllabi, exams, and similar handouts.
- Salary, wages, or stipends for faculty, staff, student workers, or graduate assistants whose effort is dedicated to the general development, instruction, or offering of a course, with the exception of those employed to provide individual music lessons.
- Supplemental written materials, such as supplemental readings. If a department does not wish to cover the costs of such materials, and the students are to have ownership, 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.
- Transportation to sites related to student teaching, clinical assignments, and other practical activity. This is considered a personal expense.
Who to Contact with Questions
- The fiscal officer in each college provides interpretation of the course fee policy: advises on the collection of fees, account structure, and account balances, and considers requests for exceptions to be submitted to the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost.
- The Accounts Receivable Office handles questions relating to the billing and payment of student course fees.
- The Registrar's Scheduling and Fees Office handles questions and comments regarding the authorization, publication, and changes of course fees.
- The Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost handles questions and comments regarding the course fee policy.