IU to eliminate 'add fee'

IU will no longer charge a $44 late program fee for adding and dropping courses after the first week of classes. It will only assess a $22 fee for each course dropped after the first week of classes.\nLast April, a new policy was announced introducing a $44 charge. But this month the University announced it would charge half that amount. For example, if a student drops a course and then adds a different section of the same course, the student will only be charged one $22 fee as long as the add and drop occurs within the same day.\nRoland Cote, the IU Registrar, said in an e-mail, "the late program change fee is assessed beginning the second week of classes, after the 100 percent refund period has ended. The change being implemented this year is that this fee will no longer be assessed for added classes. It will only be assessed for dropped classes, hence $22 instead of $44."\nCote added that the schedule adjustment access fee, which is $6 each time a student accesses the registration system, has no relationship to the late program change fee of $22. \n"The schedule adjustment access fee is assessed for students who process changes to their schedule through the end of the first week of classes," Cote said. "It is not assessed per drop, add, or section change. It is assessed once on any given calendar day when the student accesses the system to process changes. It may be assessed multiple times if the student processes changes on multiple days."\nAssociate Bursar Kimberly Kercheval said the reason for the fee change was neither budget-driven nor due to student complaints. \nThe Student Information System, which is the University's new PeopleSoft integration software, is dealing with existing fees. It is working with current policies and trying to evaluate them. \nKercheval said this last weekend was a big implementation period for bringing up the system to all bursar and financial aid functions.\nStudents have varied reactions to the change in fee policy.\n"It frustrates me," graduate student Enbal Shacham said. "The fact that we get charged for every change we make is ridiculous. What are the fees being used for? Where are all the charges going and what are we getting in return?"\nSome students expressed relief at the reduced fee. \n"It's good that they are bringing something down in price," junior Adam Levy said. "Not that it really makes that much of a difference. There are so many other outrageous fees, it is not going to help much. The more fees they add on, the less likely people will return after they graduate to join the (IU) Alumni Association in order to donate money."\nSenior Michael Kim said it was good that students will be paying less.\n"As a person who makes schedule changes a lot, I wish they did not assess the fee," Kim said. "For people who want to get ahead by taking a lot of classes, it is disadvantageous that they have to pay the fee in the first place."\nAnother change was announced in April. According to the Web site for the Office of the Bursar, undergraduate students in the "flat fee" range, meaning those enrolled in 12-17 credit hours per semester, who adjust hours after the first week of classes will not have any change in tuition fee if the drop and add occur on the same calendar day and if they maintain enrollment in the flat fee range of hours after the adjustment.\nStudents who are enrolled in fewer than 12 credit hours will receive partial refund for the dropped course but will pay in full for the added course, according to the Bursar Web site.\nIn both cases, the $22 late program fee will be assessed.\n-- Contact staff writer Karen Yancey at kaeyance@indiana.edu .