Naropa University
Course Fee Policy
Approved by: Academic Policy Committee
Also Reviewed by: Business and Finance, and Registration
Date: May 2006
This policy is intended to clarify for students what fees will be collected and for how much, to bring greater
accountability to fee collection by creating systems of approval and checking, and by limiting when fees
may be collected by a department or instructor.
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All fees are subject to review and approval by the VPAA’s office.
All new fees must be submitted with an explanation that outlines
o What the fee is for specifically
o Why the fee isn’t appropriate for dept budget
o How the dept calculated the amount of the fee (e.g. students will use $30-$40 of Ikebana
flowers, to be purchased by the instructor. Students will be charged $40 each to cover
these costs.)
All fees must be added before the pre-registration period. Final amounts must be listed before
first billing for the semester.
All fees must be listed in the course comment area in the course schedule with a short
explanation (e.g. Course fee: $120 online tech fee). If the fee will cover room and board, this
should be broken out from other course fees.
Limits on Fee Collection
 Fees can only be collected for:
o Materials that the student makes direct use of in that class, as part of the curriculum, in
that semester (e.g. Ikebana flowers, room & board for a retreat, chemicals for darkroom,
language lab assistance). This includes commonly stocked materials such as those used
in an art class and/or hard to find materials, or those that students must all have on the
first day of class.
o The approximated amount of that material or service per student
o Technical fees. A reasonable amount may be charged for use of special software or
computer services for a course.
o One-on-one teaching (by special approval)
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Fees cannot be collected for:
o Copies – faculty should post sourcebooks on library site, make a hard copy available, or
copy costs should come from dept budget.
o Materials that are reasonably easy for students to find. Students should be permitted to
purchase materials at the best price they can find (e.g. art supplies should be purchased
by students out of pocket). If students will be expected to buy outside supplies, this
should be listed in the course schedule.
o Materials that do not have a direct per-student per semester cost for which students will
receive the materials or service except in the case of commonly stocked materials in a
classroom that are part of the curriculum (e.g. glue, scissors in an art class)
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Individual transportation fees, except by special permission.
Future costs, materials or services
Instructor payment except by special permission
Guest speaker stipend
To offset other course costs
Room and board fees unless residency is required for the course
 The fees are collected for the least expensive room and board option
Any materials or services that are optional. In some cases, a department may wish to
allow a student to opt out of a required fee. In this case, the student must present to the
Tuition Cashier, with permission from the department before the last day of drop/add for
the course.
Deposits
Snacks for the classroom except when specifically required in the curriculum
Any situation where an instructor, teaching assistant, graduate assistant, department or
other party will make a profit from the sales of the product. This includes selling personal
materials created or written by the instructor or TA. These materials should be sold
through the bookstore or made available through the library. They may be sold “at cost”
to students in the classroom if this is the only way to make the materials available.
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Fees cannot be collected in class except in the case that both:
o A material or service is offered to students optionally, for a set, at-cost price, in order to
offer convenience or a low price on materials (e.g. instructor offers to purchase bulk art
supplies for students who wish to participate).
o The fee collection is approved by the department.
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Fees cannot be collected directly by a department except by special permission (e.g. special
travel expenses, room and board).
Reimbursement and Unused Funds
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To be reimbursed, departments must show receipts that match the original special fee
description. E.g. if $40 per student was charged for Ikebana flowers, the dept must show receipts
for Ikebana flowers. These must be submitted by the end of the fiscal year.
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Unused moneys will be kept in the student materials budget line for the fiscal year, to be used
only toward student materials. At the end of the fiscal year, unused monies will be moved to the
general fund.
Departments that consistently over-collect fees will be expected to reduce fees to get as close to
a 0 balance in the student materials account as possible. Departments that overspend their
course fees should anticipate that the balance will be taken from the department’s general fund.
Course fees of over $100 per student must be tracked by the department. This represents a
large amount of money for students. Therefore, if the department, for any reason, fails to spend
$40 or more of the fees on those courses toward that course the department is expected to return
those funds to the students and not keep the money to be spent toward other courses.
Otherwise, students will not be reimbursed for fees after the drop/add date.
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Policy expressed in:
 Catalog: all courses with a fee are required to be indicated as such in the catalog. The exact
amount should not be printed but the reason for the fee should be. For example: “A fee for art
materials will be collected in association with this course.”
 Catalog: a line will be added in the Academic Info section, “fees are not reimbursed after the
drop/add deadline”
 Course schedule: all fees must be published with their exact amounts and reason for the fee. For
example “A special fee of $40 will be collected for art materials.”
o Policy