The new Chancellor of the North Dakota University System says his office will be looking at the student fees at the state’s public colleges and universities – in terms of what’s charged and how the funds are used.
This comes in the wake of a performance audit report of student fees at NDSU and UND. The report says some of the money was spent of such things as first class airline tickets to India for an NDSU dean, purchase of iPads and t-shirts at UND, and to fatten up some reserve funds.
Chancellor Ham Shirvani says he's concerned aboit how those fees affect college affordability.
"Parents are told that at this institution, you will pay $6000 0r $7000 tuition," Shirvani told the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee. "They go by the cashier to pay that tuition, and they're told there's $600 in fees. For people who can afford it, it's okay. But people who have a student loan can't even borrow that money. They can borrow the tuition, not the fees."
Shirvani said he will have some recommendations for the Board of Higher Education within two to three months.
"Not only for the purpose of full transparency and accountability, but also for the purpose of being much more clear and transparent to the parents and students," Shirvani said. "If that's a common practice, that's fine. But we want to be better."
NDSU President Dean Breschani says issues with the use of student fees on his campus will likely be a thing of the past – come this fall’s semester. Breschani told the committee NDSU will be implementing a new “student success” tuition model this fall.
"That model encourages students to take 15 credits, and it also eliminates most of the array of program and course fees, by consolidating them into a single tuition charge," Breschani said. "In other words, by this time next year, many if not most of the areas of concern identified in the audit report will be moot at NDSU."
UND President Robert Kelley said he is committed to transparency, and to make sure the monies are properly spent.
