<p>Some public universities have begun charging higher tuition for majors that lead to lucrative fields (and where it costs more to pay professors). The difference is as much as $500 per semester.</p>
<p>Good or bad?</p>
<p>Schools say it helps them provide better, more specialized programs in those fields without having to raise general tuition. Critics say that low income students are already moving away from business and engineering and into majors with a lower sticker price.</p>
<p>I think some of those charges are probably lab fees incurred through classes...</p>
<p>It's true that some courses do have lab fees. But that's not what the article is talking about...at all.</p>
<p>This has already been going on in Canada. The University of British Columbia can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $24,000 depending on the major (international student prices).</p>
<p>My S goes to a public school and is an engineering major. I just received his fall tuition bill. He is charged $500 extra for being an engineering major, $218 computing fee, and his lab fees this semester are $86. These fees are of top of a tuition bill of $5500 plus other fees such as student activity fees.</p>
<p>This is the oldest "news" in history. Some schools have done this for 20 years or more. Usually business and engineering and many grad programs.</p>
<p>Ditto what barrons said. The tense on that sentence that contains "have begun charging higher tuition" is a little misleading. Michigan began charging an engineering tuition differential in 1983, business in 1984, pharmacy in 1995....this isn't a new phenomenon.</p>
<p>This is a problem in reporting of higher ed issues. Writers just don't know the history or the issues, and they sometimes get the story somewhat wrong. I'm sure this is true in many other fields as well.</p>
<p>The odd thing is that some of these schools (don't know if they're the same ones charging more) receive huge amounts of outside funding for their engineering (and other) schools (UCSD and UCLA are a couple of examples). It seems that if the particular school within a University receives a large amount of outside funding from philanthropists, it should charge 'less' for those degrees.</p>
<p>UVA Engineering tacks on about another $200 or so I think for being in engineering (computing/lab/engineering etc fees)</p>
<p>I don't know about UVA but I know that some other top publics end up having a significant amount of their computer lab equipment donated to them (for example - Dell donating a huge amount of workstations). On top of this, a lot of people can just use their laptops for most of their program writing and compiling.</p>
<p>It could be that it really boils down charging more for 'impacted majors' whcih I suppose could be considered a matter of supply and demand.</p>
<p>Lab fees? Oh please. Add-on costs for majors? Bring it ON.</p>
<p>I am short on sympathy for anyone complaining about the short-terms costs of gaining an undergraduate degree in engineering, science, or technology fields. </p>
<p>My kids, by choice, worked just as hard for their B.A. degrees as close friends in the sciences. Now, however, mine are grateful to scrape up any post-college job related to their fields at $30-40K. If they go to grad or professional schools in humanities-based studies, they will not enjoy funded research or teaching assistantships akin to their friends in science and technology. </p>
<p>The differential, over the course of a lifetime, is HUGE. So that's how I respond to moans about undergraduate lab fees or differential prices up to $1K annually for majors.</p>
<p>GIven that it takes all kinds to make a society, from scientists to artists, I would welcome a tuition differential based on majors, provided there was accommodation to include low-income students (waive add-on costs for the major, if necessary, to level the playing field at the moment of choice of majors).</p>
<p>I know that in engineering at some colleges (UCs for example), engineering majors require more units than most humanities degrees. This seems that it would justify an additional tuition cost.</p>
<p>Paying3 - my kids have several friends doing PhD's in the humanities and if your kid is a strong applicant to the desired program, he/she will get funding just like a kid in the sciences. A few of these students have found that the TA positions offer more flexibility than TA-ships in the sciences which is highly valued in addition to the monetary contribution... you can shop around for a class you actually want to teach, vs. being assigned Physics 101 or Organic Chemistry (which the TA's hate... the students don't want to be there either!)</p>
<p>Professional schools are a different story-- but most U's treat their PhD candidates the same regardless of the field. If a student isn't strong enough to get funded that's probably a good indication that the kid should come up with plan B for grad school-- entering a field where you're marginal usually means you'll have a tough time getting through the program and an even tougher time getting a job post-doc, or that you're just a victim of an oversupply of aspiring students in a crowded field. Caveat Emptor.</p>