Drop the drop fee

Once again, IU drops another fee on us, and doesn't explain why. \nDropping and adding a different section of the same class used to cost only $22, but next fall students may be languishing in miserably inappropriate classes because they can't afford the new $44 double fee -- one $22 fee for the drop and one $22 fee for the add.\nSo poverty really does stunt education.\nWe at the Indiana Daily Student would like to clarify the rumors surrounding this fee. Some students have misinterpreted the $44, making it sound worse than it is.\nThe fee only applies to students dropping and adding unrelated classes after the first week of the semester (when registration is officially over).\n Our beef is not so much with the fee, per se, but the lack of explanation for it. The bursar's office couldn't provide concrete reasons to the IDS. \n Associate Bursar Kimberley Kercheval said the changes were installed due to the schematic of the Student Information System, the University's new PeopleSoft integration software, but remained confident the new system would be effective (April 20, IDS). \nThe University is subtly pointing fingers, but not providing answers.\nOnce again, it's the technology whipping boy -- PeopleSoft.\nSorry, we don't buy that. \nInstead of the blame game, we want real solutions.\nWe want to know where the money is really going.\nThe bursar's office claims the new policy will actually make registration cheaper for some students.\nAccording to the mass e-mail sent by the bursar's office, undergraduates taking between 12 and 17 credit hours who adjust their schedules but remain in the "flat fee range" will not incur any change in tuition if the drop/add occur on the same day. Instead of paying a portion of the tuition for the class they dropped, students will only have to pay the $44 drop and add fees.\nWe can understand it gets hairy when oodles of students start dropping and adding classes willy-nilly. The University needs to deal with these problems -- we just want a more specific reason for tacking on an extra $22. \nAre the few key strokes required to add a section in the same class/department rather than just drop it really worth $22? \nIf anything, the current problems with PeopleSoft should encourage the University to hold off on a fee change for now. \nPeople are having enough trouble figuring out the new registration process. We believe the University should postpone implementation of this fee until PeopleSoft is appropriately tweaked to its full institutional capacity. Electing to use a new technology is laudable, but students shouldn't bear the brunt of the fiscal burden until the problems are truly laid to rest. Students shouldn't be punished if they need to iron out the kinks in their schedules two weeks into the semester.