An Analysis of Fees at Public Four-Year Universities: Differentiating Between Tuition and Required Fees

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Federal Aid Programming Effects: Fees, Work Study, and Loan Default

Abstract

Despite the plethora of data collected and analyzed from the tuition side of the equation, little to no attention has been paid to the fee portion. Most of the existing research, including the IPEDS data, relates to tuition and required fees as one entity, not necessarily looking at tuition and fees separately. Within the theory of academic capitalism, this analysis examines required fees, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, separate from tuition comparing them against internal and external variables. The results demonstrate that fees may be a result of universities participating in market-like behaviors, in turn using fees as a way to increase the cost of attendance without directly increasing basic tuition costs.

Author

• Alaine K. Arnott, The Metropolitan Museum of Art