As a college student, I am lucky to have parents who pay the majority of my bills. For most students, debt is a way of life and something that sticks around for quite awhile. One thing that I have learned since I started college last year is that my education costs a lot of money. I attend the University of Arizona, in Tucson. I am an instate resident so what I pay compared to others is much less.
Along with my tuition, my college nails me for the little things, semester after semester. Let’s take a look into the expenses of the Fall 2007 semester.
Tuition: about $2000 (base fee for anything between 12 and 19 units)
Lab Fees: $86
ASA Fee: $1
Rec Center Fee: $25
AFAT Fee: $24
Kamp Fee (student radio): $1
Rec Center Program Fee: $3.42
Info Tech/Library Fee: $57.50
I do not mind all of these fees, for example the lab fees. I am a Science major, and I am in labs so I have to pay for chemicals and the disposal of said waste. The Info Tech fee is something they let the student body vote on. This fee allows for technical upgrades throughout campus (over the summer they covered 70% of our campus with wifi).
However, there are those fees that I do not want to be nailed for every semester. Our rec center is awesome, except I no longer live on campus so it is far away. My apartment has a free workout room. I pay 25 dollars a semester for something I do not use (not to mention the three dollar fee for some program at the rec center). Half of the things I am charged for, I do not even know what they are. That is partially my fault, however I have better things to do than to argue a one dollar charge.
It is no doubt that education is expensive, and I still have a long ways to go. I am only a sophomore in my undergraduate career, and I plan on attending graduate school (that is even more expensive!). The good news is, I went to an instate college. My friends who come to UofA from California end up paying over $14,000 dollars a year for their education.
I leave you with these questions: Can we put a price on Education? Does a student at Harvard really get a better education than someone like myself who attends the University of Arizona?
Until next time,
Justin Capasso
[tags]Education, School, College, Finance, jfcapasso[/tags]
