Students have noticed a rise in tuition and fees in the past few years and although tuition did not increase for the 2021-2022 academic year, the average tuition and fees rate has been steadily increasing for the past 10 years for in state and out of state undergraduate and graduate students.
Many students are unaware of the specific costs tuition and fees cover.
Henry Limbo, freshman majoring in pre-med and French, said that he had a “vague understanding” of the tuition and service fee.
Limbo also received the Spirit of Auburn Presidential Scholarship and the National Merit scholarship which lessened his financial burden at Auburn. However, he still had fees left over that were not covered by the scholarship,
“If I weren't on scholarship, I don't think I would have come to Auburn, because my my decision to come to Auburn was mainly the fact that most of my tuition was going to be paid for and I knew that I was going to live with,” he said.
The average tuition and fees rate for a full-time in-state undergraduate and graduate students for the 2021-22 academic school year is $5,913. The rate is substantially higher for out of state students and students in certain programs such as veterinary medicine while other programs such as nursing have additional fees aside from the main tuition and fees.
Jack Greenwald a senior double majoring in aviation management and visual media students with a minor in business is an out of state student whose tuition is almost double the amount for in-state students.
According to him, he believes that tuition is “worth it” because of the consistent growth of resources, and facilities put into the campus to heighten the student experience.
However, he made suggestions to what the University could do to help students have a better understanding exactly where their money is going.
“If you go to AU access, and you go to my finances, maybe having someone publish a diagram with a GI Bill,” Greenwald said. "You could have notes on there, which explain each segment of the GI Bill and what it covers or putting a side note explaining any changes in services and why just so students don't assume that Auburn's raising fees just to make more money, because this is a public land grant university. So, if us taxpayers are funding this campus, I would say we deserve to know where every dollar is going?"
According to Chief Financial Officer, Kelli Shomaker, rates are higher for these programs because of the resources such as equipment needed to best prepare and educate them for their career and meet accreditation standards.
While tuition did not increase, but the student service fee did.
The current student service fee is $873. The service fee covers programs, facilities, organization and event fees for the school and students. A few of these fees go to Campus Recreation, the Wellness Center, athletics and the transit system.
According to Shomaker, these fees help keep certain facilities operating and provide a better experience for the student body.
“Our students were very loud and clear that they wanted more sustainable buses that ran on a much cleaner fuel. Those buses cost more. But again, it was a request, it came from our students. So, we took it to our board, and they approved it," Shomaker said.
The full breakdown of the student service fee can be found online on Auburn University’s website.
Although the student service fee is broken down into components, tuition isn’t. Therefore, many students may be unaware of the expense’s tuition cover.
All students are required to pay tuition fees. Students who complete an off-campus internship that is required to complete their degree must also pay tuition and service fees.
According to Shomaker, tuition covers faculty and staff expenses and university expenses such as roads and utilities.
“We call it our infrastructure. So just like a city would have. Cities have roads, cities have electric plants. We have chilled water plants that help, you know, all our buildings. It's a big enterprise,” Shomaker said.
Overall, Shomaker wants the students to know that the administration is concerned about tuition rates and that as they make decisions that is always in their heads.
“They [students] are our stakeholder. And we try hard to do that balance between providing them the best education we can. So best sometimes equates to an expensive piece of equipment, a new lab facility we need to build and keeping their rates as low as we absolutely can," Shomaker said.
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Kelis McGhee, junior in journalism, is a community writer for The Auburn Plainsman.
