Everyone knows tuition fees are expensive and everyone complains, but this isn’t your typical ‘tuition fees are too high’ argument.
Students who opt to take four credits each year actually end up paying even more to complete their degree.
If you break it down, a typical undergraduate degree has students fulfill 20 credits, and to graduate in four years—a pressure most students are faced with—they must take at least five credits each year of study.
But what if you can’t handle the stress of a full course load? Or you have a demanding part-time job? Or you have some sort of disability that prevents you from successfully completing a five-credit course load?
Well, surprise! You’ll be paying more in tuition for your degree.
That’s the case for me. Due to a mental health disability, five courses per semester plus a part-time job is unmanageable. In order to graduate in four years, I’ve been paying summer school tuition since my first year so I don’t fall behind my peers.
As it stands, fall and winter term students pay a fixed rate tuition that is determined by a full-time or part-time classification. This means, regardless of the number of credits you are enrolled in, you pay one rate.
For example, a full-time student taking a reduced course load of four credits pays the same as a student taking five and the same as a student overloading with six or more.
Over time, this adds up—for some, more than others, because to fulfill all credits in a degree, a student unable to manage a five-credit course load for four years will have to pay extra tuition during the summer or for a fifth year to graduate.
For instance, in first year I took five credits, but I also took summer school. Last year, I took four credits in addition to summer classes; I am currently enrolled in four courses per term. Next year, I also plan to take a reduced full-time course load, but if I want to graduate on time, it means I will have to take summer school again.
Let’s look at the numbers:
I pay approximately $5,000 in tuition per year of study in my Bachelor of Journalism program. But for me, graduating on time while enrolling in four credits each year of study requires me to take summer school and pay an additional $2,000-$3,000 in tuition for three summers—more than the average student.
In the summer semesters, however, students pay a tuition fee based on the number of credits they take. I think tuition fees for every enrolment session should be calculated this way to encourage students to proactively manage their mental health, avoid over-committing themselves, and ultimately reduce the debilitating stress that can see students fail courses time and again.
Why should I compromise my already-unsteady mental health, destroy my chances of getting into graduate school, or give up my part-time job, just to avoid adding to that ever-growing mountain of student debt?
It’s unfortunate students who, for whatever reason, don’t want to register in a full course load, are essentially overcharged for their degrees. All I’m asking is for a little fairness, and perhaps a few thousand dollars back in my pocket.
