Arts supplies, class fees add to students' expenses

Paints. Goggles. Canvas. Calculators. Manuals.

The list goes on, and the cost adds up.

The price of books is a pain for everyone, but for some students their chosen major leads them down an even more expensive path.

Certain degrees at IU — from the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, the School of Education and the School of Fine Arts — often require classes that not only have pricey books, but additional fees for supplies.

Sarah Cummins, a freshman majoring in human biology with a minor in medical science, said she has already experienced such costs in her first semester at IU.

“My chemistry class alone basically cost around $400,” she said. “We got a new book that could only be bought hardback, a response card, goggles, a lab manual, laboratory graph paper, a calculator and an online access card where we do
our homework.”

With a major in the science field, Cummins said she knows she will have to face these costs continuously for the next four years — and for years to come after that.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to have all of the materials cost as much,” Cummins said. “I can understand lab fees, though, because chemicals are expensive.”

Sophomore Tom Colcord said he expects to spend about $200 on art supplies for his painting and drawing classes this semester — that’s in addition to tuition, housing
and textbooks.

As a freshman, Colcord said the extra costs were unexpected. But the studio art major said he’s now more prepared and has learned to factor supplies into his
college budget.

“By this time in my career as an undergraduate, I’m ready for it,” Colcord said. “It doesn’t catch me off guard.”

While buying the supplies might be a hassle — requiring a few trips to Walmart or Pygmalion’s Art Supplies on North Grant Street ­— Colcord said it tends to average out with other course fees he bypasses, such as textbooks.

Colcord spent approximately $150 on textbooks for his other classes. Coupled with the $200 he plans to spend on supplies, the total adds up to $350 worth of fees for
the semester.

Students can choose to buy their supplies from Pygmalion’s, which provides pre-packaged bundles for various IU art courses.

While the bundle is an option, IU Provost Karen Hanson said students are not required to buy it, and can buy their supplies individually instead.

“The stuff that is bundled by Pygmalion’s is also available piece by piece,” she said. “They’re supposed to be making that plain at the point of sale, and the faculty is supposed to be making it plain as well.”

But art supplies are not the only school supplies weighing the pockets of IU students.
Jordan Burns, a junior exercise science major, said he too has dealt with additional fees for classes. He is studying physical therapy, and said he takes a lot of five-credit hour science classes.

“You have to get things like goggles and clickers, and if you take any type of HPER class you usually have to buy something else for it.”

Burns said he spends about $500 a semester and usually gets his additional supplies from the T.I.S. College Bookstore.Though his supply cost situation can be frustrating and it sometimes seems unfair to have such extra costs, Burns said there really is
no alternative.

“I’d rather have goggles in a chemistry lab than not have them,” Burns said.