Students may see higher fees for MCB, finance classes if approved

New fees and fee increases could force some UA students to pay more for their education next year.

The Arizona Board of Regents will vote Thursday on whether to charge a new fee for an undergraduate finance course and raise the fees for a molecular and cellular biology course.

Students who will be taking Recombinant DNA Methods and Applications, or MCB 473/573, will have to pay $150 next semester as opposed to the $50 now required if the fee passes next week.

Regents are also voting on a $90 fee for students taking Analyzing Financial Info, or FIN 401. The money would help pay the lease for Bloomberg Financial Services for financial data.

Both of the proposed class fees were reviewed and approved by the department heads and deans, and the University Fees Committee.

Students taking online graduate engineering courses, students pursuing a master's degree from the School of Architecture and students pursuing a master's certificate in gerontology will feel the impact of the fees come fall.

Student Regent Danelle Kelling said though she is against mandatory fees imposed on all students, fees for particular classes or programs are sometimes necessary.

"Some programs really do do things that give students different experiences," she said.

But she said even special fees shouldn't go too far.

"I think there should be a limit on what's charged for those fees," she said.

Kelling said regents are usually careful not to impose unnecessary fees.

New graduate students pursuing a master's of architecture and master's of landscape architecture will have to pay $1,000 per year if the regents approve the fees. Current students would not be affected.

The fees for the master of architecture program will help pay for expenses to keep the program technologically advanced, according to the proposal. Fifteen percent of the revenues will be set aside for financial aid.

The landscape architecture program will use the money to pay for adjunct instructor hires, a visiting lecturer series, instructional field trips and technology costs, according to the proposal. In the absence of scholarships, which are provided to each student, 15 percent of the fee will be used for financial aid.

Landscape architecture was one of 16 programs nearly cut under Focused Excellence proposals early last year. In April, it and seven other programs were spared elimination, and Richard Eribes, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, soon proposed fees to make the college less dependent on the university.

The graduate program in gerontology has also proposed new fees after being targeted by Focused Excellence. The program will move from the graduate college's interdisciplinary program division to the College of Nursing, and the new revenue should allow the program to reopen to new students.

Because many gerontology students attend the UA part-time, a $100 fee will be assessed per credit hour. Fifteen percent of what's generated will be set aside for financial aid.

The $200 required of students registered in distance-delivered graduate engineering courses in place since 2001 would jump to $402 if the regents approve the fee hike. Revenues would help maintain and develop graduate engineering online courses.

Last year, the board of regents approved fees that collected $500 a year from new in-state undergraduate business students and $1,000 a year from new nonresidents this year.

The Eller College of Management hired new faculty members as a result.