<p>I want to know what some of these random crap is that I need to pay for. I won't show the costs, since I'm not sure if that is allowed or not.</p>
<p>Resident Undergrad Tuition (Okay my tuition, fine)<br>
University Fee (Huh..?)
Transportation Fee (Taking the blue bus I guess)<br>
Technology Fee (Am I being charged for using internet and PODS? I have my own laptop and shouldn't the internet be part of the housing bill?)
Excellence Fee (Wth? I know I'm excellent, but to charge me for it?)
Recreation Fee (I'm guessing this is for using gym and courts? Which is stupid)<br>
ID Card Fee (Did I not already pay for this when I first got one?)
Health Services Fee (Uh, I've never visited, but oh well)<br>
Career Resource Fee (Um... Is this for academic advising?)
Campus Life Fee (I thought I was already paying to live on the campus)
Intercollegiate Athletic Fee (I'm not on any team..)
Undergraduate Activity Fee (Another WTH?!)
Academic Record Fee (So I can't get a piece of paper with my records for free either?)
Dining Plan (Like I'm not being ripped off already)
On Campus Housing Charge (I live on campus, ok)</p>
<p>Anyway, you guys can probably see yours too. Does anyone know why I have to pay for some of this? And what they even are?</p>
<p>I was also charged another $250, a week ago for some reason. I payed what I was charged a couple weeks ago and now I need to pay more?</p>
<p>Tuition- yeah…
University Fee- Random but probably goes toward administrative costs
Transportation Fee- Probably for the public bus service, not for the blue buses (Public are free too which is nice)
Technology Fee- Might be for the internet/PODS, but can also be for the Blackboard set-up/BU Brain/etc.
Excellence Fee- By far the most important, only paid excellence is the highest (in reality, it’s probably another admin type fee)
Recreation Fee- its not just for the gym, which usually is an extra thing (not this year though…) but for the Nature Preserve and keeping up the individual communities’ basketball/soccer/football/volleyball courts/fields
ID Card Fee- Probably pays for the equipment to manufacture the IDs as well as maintaining the ID system for dorm access
Health Services Fee- Probably a maintenance fee, just because you didn’t use it (for which it is free I believe) doesn’t mean you won’t in the future and as a student with the privileges of using the Health Center, you need to pay for its upkeep.
Career Resource Fee- Admin, Career Advising Center, maybe academic too
Campus Life Fee- It’s not for housing but for the Office of Campus Life which runs a lot of different programs such as Late Nite Binghamton which is free…
Intercollegiate Athletic Fee- You’re a Bing student, thus you get some sort of benefit (however small or unnecessary) when a team of ours wins or whatever… This fee lets that happen.
Undergraduate Activity Fee- This is the SA fee which funds all the clubs, a large part of student programming and pays for the Blue Buses… This was increased last year to save OCCT from financial doom, something that was necessary since I, like most Bing undergrads in residence use the blue buses.
Academic Record Fee- Probably admin, or pays for space (virtual or otherwise) to store records
Dinning Plan- Food, kinda necessary
On Campus Housing Charge- P)lace to live, also nice…</p>
<p>Some of these may seems random but they go towards making the school run. If you feel like disputing them go take it up with the Bursars Office… But I’ve argued charges and it doesn’t go well.</p>
<p>And as for the 250$ charge? What was the detail given next to it? I didn’t get anything like that. Are you taking a gym course with a surcharge involved?</p>
<p>Edit: or that link works too… XD Cross posted sorry… AND I am happy to note that I got a lot of these right, woo! :P</p>
<p>The Undergraduate Activity Fee also helps fund Harpur’s Ferry, which many freshmen seem keen to take advantage of within the first week of class. As for the academic record fee, you won’t be charged further if/when you request printed copies of your transcript. This is immensely convenient, and you can also request them online.</p>
<p>You didn’t appear to list the Student Health Insurance Fee which CAN be WAIVED if you have your own coverage. Be advised that if your insurance doesn’t cover you in Binghamton, the costs associated with visiting a local hospital ER can be fairly high. If you are picked up by an ambulance agency other than Harpur’s Ferry and lack coverage, the fee can easily exceed $500 for EMS transport/care alone.</p>
<p>I don’t generally mind too much about the fees, as they are a part of the University that is more directly controlled by us as opposed to the State of New York in the sense that the University decides what ratio of the total fee amount will be assigned to various departments (ie: this year, let’s dedicate x% to Health Services).</p>