Tuition, fees, and other college expenses are not cheap. Looking at some of the different fees here at Morrisville State College, some questions came to mind.

If a person goes online to Morrisville’s Web site and looks under the "Admissions" link, they will then see something that says "College costs." Following that link to the left hand side of the screen is another that says "Explanation of fees." There are 15 different explanations for some of the fees that a person may question as to why they need to pay.

Mary Ellen Burdick, director of Business Affairs, said that several of the fees are mandatory to every student, but not all are required. The cost of the different fees may not come from the Bursar’s office, but from different corporations and even academic departments. Tuition is not set by the Bursar’s office, but by the state and legislators. Meal plan costs are decided by the Auxiliary Corporation, and even the college’s faculty have a say in what students pay: the lab fees for some courses and the food services are actually decided by the instructors of those courses.

Even students have some say, because the Student Government Organization plans different activities around campus, and those activities help set the Activities Fee. Then there is the Technology Fee: considering how technologically based Morrisville is--with its now famous wireless internet and the cell phones that so many students love and consider important necessities to their everyday lives--it is obviously an important fee at this college.

Some fees--such as the Fitness Center--are not mandatory, but are still automatically added to students’ bills.

Why is it that some services that students do not actually have to pay for are automatically added? For instance, students do not have to pay for a fitness fee. Burdick said, “Everything is put on all of the bills. On the back of the bills under the comprehensive fee, there is a list of what the comprehensive fee is made up of. All of the optional fees are on, there fitness, alumni, placement fees, etc.

"It is going to be a lot more work for the Bursar’s Office because of fees like the fitness center that so many people use. The Bursar’s Office would have to contact every student and ask whether or not they wanted to pay the fee for the fitness center, whereas students now have to contact the Bursar’s Office and ask them to take off such a charge,” she said.

Simply stated, it is up to the student or the person paying the bill to make sure they are reading the fine print and are aware of what they are paying for.

Sam Harman, '08, an Individual Studies major, says he thinks that some of the fees are inappropriate. He said he is not sure why current students have to pay an alumni fee. He also said he feelsit is a general expectation of the school to have a gym, but they should tell students of the fees. Sam thought that if a person is only using one facility they should only be charged for that facility.

Cate Howey, '09, a Nursing major, is paying for college herself. She said she thinks the inclusion of optional fees on the bill is ridiculous. Fortunately, she added, she looked at her bill before it was too late and realized what she did and did not have to pay for, and told the Bursar’s office that she did not want to pay for them.

There are fees here at Morrisville State College that may be expensive and may be optional. In the end, it is up to students to read the fine print on the back of the bill.