Tuition and Student Fee Administration Standards

Tuition

The following standards are provided to define tuition rate setting.

-IN PROGRESS-

Student Fees

The following standards are provided to ensure student fee fund balances are maintained at the appropriate level.

Fund Balances

Course specific and mandatory student accounts should not accumulate an unjustified fund balance. Unless otherwise approved, fees should be established based on a cost-recovery basis.
Course specific and mandatory student fee fund balances will be reviewed and justified as a part of the Annual Certification Fee reports process and through the process of requesting approval of a new course specific fee. University auxiliaries departments and service departments who are required to maintain a three month operating reserve (per University rule 23.02.02.M1) should document this reserve amount in their fund balance justification.
Any course specific and mandatory student fee fund balances that are intentionally growing must have a planned use that is reviewed by the appropriate fee board.
Revenues collected are expected to be expended within the same fiscal year.

The following standards are provided to define the approval process for student fees.

Student Fee Approval

All requests for new or revisions to existing student fees that are not course specific that are covered by the Texas Education code must be submitted to the Student Fee Review Committee for review and further action which could include vetting with the appropriate stakeholders, recommendation for approval to the President, and approval by the Board of Regents . For additional information on timeline, specific approvals, forms, etc., see Approval Process for Student Fees that are not course specific.
All requests for new or revisions to existing Instructional Enhancement/Equipment Fees (IE/EF) requests must be submitted to Student Business Services and then routed through the Provost Office and Chair of the Student Fee Review Committee for review before it is submitted to the President for approval. Upon approval the fee request is submitted to Student Business Services. For additional information on timeline, specific approvals, forms, etc., see Instructional Enhancement/Equipment Fees (Course Specific Fees) Approval Process.
All requests for new or revisions to existing Field Trip Fees must follow Standard Administrative Procedures (SAP) 26.02.99.M1.01 and must be submitted to the Provost Office and Chair of the Student Fee Review Committee for review before it is submitted to the President for approval. For additional information on timeline, specific approvals, forms, etc., see Field Trip Fee Approval Process.
All requests for new or revisions to existing Study Abroad Fees must be recommended for approval by the Executive Director of International Programs, Executive Associate Vice President for International Programs and routed through the Vice President for Diversity, the Provost’s Office and the Chair of the Student Fee Review Committee for review before it is submitted to the President for approval. For additional information on timeline, specific approvals, forms, etc., see Study Abroad Fees Approval Process

The following standards are provided to ensure the development of realistic revenue estimates for budget purposes.

Budget Preparation/Revenue Estimates

The department of Budget and Planning within the Division of Finance will be responsible for providing information for developing revenue projections for budget preparation. The following information will be provided:
- Estimated number of semester credit hours (SCHs) by semester assuming 15 hour flat rate tuition
- Estimated number of registered students by semester to be charged semester-based student fees
Departments/colleges must use information provided to develop their revenue projections unless the department of Budget and Planning within the Division of Finance approves exception to this standard in writing.
Departments/colleges who charge student fees that do not calculate off of 15 hours or a consistent per-semester charge must provide their back up data and formulas with their revenue estimate. Back up data and formulas must include at a minimum

Head count
Semester credit hours
Historical date (3-5 years)
Waivers

The following standards are provided to ensure that student fees are collected and expended in accordance with applicable laws and policies.

Collecting and Expending Funds

Fees must be reported in the student system and in any subsequent reports under the appropriate section of the State of Texas Education Code.
A department collecting a statutory student fee must-

Receive proper authorization to collect the fee.
Expend funds in accordance with the applicable laws and policies for which the fee is collected.

Transferring/Comingling Funds/Accountability

Fee revenues (i.e. Health Center Fee, Rec. Sports Fee, Transportation Fee, Student Service Fee, etc.) have a greater level of restrictions than Auxiliary and fee-for-service type revenues. Thus fee revenues should be collected in a separate fiscal account from non-fee revenue. This insures that fee revenues are accounted for appropriately.
All student fee fiscal accounts should include a “Sub-Sub” account attribute on Screen 6 in FAMIS. This attribute will be used to identify the types of student fees collected into the account.
Course Specific Fees such as Field Trip Fees should be collected and expended at the individual course level.
Instructional Enhancement/Equipment Fee (IEEF) revenues should be collected and expended at the college, department, or course level depending on the methodology of fee calculation used, i.e. programmatic versus course specific.
Annual Certification Fee reports should be generated for review by Department Heads, College Deans, and administration and certification by College Deans. At a minimum the reports should include fee type (sub-sub above), beginning and ending fund balance, summary of revenue received, expenditures, and transfer information.