Jacob Ratliff is a senior criminal justice major with nine credit hours left at Sam Houston State University. He enrolled in an internship program with Richardson Police Department, near Dallas, to complete his last nine hours and graduate in December.
But he’s paying more than $400 this semester in fees for facilities and services despite being more than 200 miles away from campus.
“I’m being assessed fees that everyone is assessed for being a student on campus,” Ratliff said. “I am going to be 200 miles away, and I’m not going to drive 200 miles to use the rec center or the health center or the student center.”
Students who take classes exclusively online already have medical center, student service, student center and recreation center fees waived since they would not be on campus.
However, students who get credit exclusively from an internship do not have those same fees waived regardless of where the internship is located.
The 2012-14 Undergraduate Catalogue states “Student Service, Student Center, Medical and Recreational Sports Fees are waived, if only on-line courses are taken and the distance learning fee is charged for each credit hour taken.”
Ratliff said the fees he feels he shouldn’t be paying – those that are waived for online-only students – total $419. The policy first appeared in the 2002-04 Undergraduate Catalogue.
“That’s not practical,” Ratliff said. I would say [to the university] waive the fees on a case-by-case basis. Create a form and present that documentation to the appropriate offices to have the fees waived. Because I can understand that there are several internships in the Huntsville area [where students] might still use the rec center if they were still in the area.”
After complaints from students, including the Student Advisory Board, the university said it will look into revising the way they waive fees for students with internships.
“What we’re doing is simply going back and reassessing the different methodologies for institutional [fee] waivers,” Carlos Hernandez, acting vice president for finance and operations, said. “Now, there’s a whole slew of different exemptions and waivers that are authorized in the statute. However, this specific area [lies in] the authority that’s handed down to the institution to establish institutional waivers, and that’s what we’re revisiting, the institutional policy waiving any fees for any student.”
Hernandez said the fact that SHSU has to compete with other universities in the area will factor into their decision whether or not to revise the institutional fee waiving policy.
He also said while the argument for waiving fees is valid, there’s also an argument for not waiving fees is that it makes the cost for students who do pay fees higher.
“The underlying cost associated with providing those services to all students is one that should be borne by all participating students within the enrollment cycle of an institution,” Hernandez said. “That way it’s spread out over a larger population, and it mitigates the impact. Alternatively, it imposes a fee on everyone equally, and so the burden is shared by all and not forgiven for any.”
SHSU student body president and Student Advisory Board member Spencer Copeland said he is working closely with the university to make sure the institutional fee waiving policy is fair for all students.
“I’m very happy that the university administration, particular Dr. Hernandez, is looking into reassessing the policies,” Copeland said. “I understand that it’s a very difficult situation we’re in, trying to maintain competitive pricing in the state of Texas but also taking into account the very real and tangible effects on the individual students. It’s my hope that SHSU can find a solution that accommodates the needs of the university without forgetting the impact on its students.”
He said one possible option is considering certain internships as distance learning or assess fees based on the location of the internship by county.
