what's with the extra fee to take some classes?

<p>I was looking at the course offerings on line and I noticed that after the description of quite a few course in the sciences there is the line:</p>

<p>Supplemental course fee required.</p>

<p>Those of you at Dartmouth, what's with this? Are you seriously telling me that after paying Dartmouth's huge tuition that a number of the courses then require you to pay an extra fee to take that course? I can't believe that is true, but what else could "supplemental course fee required" mean. Is this true at any of the other Ivys or have they just buried it so deep that I can't find it?</p>

<p>Anyone who is in the know, please explain. Thanks.</p>

<p>maybe its to cover lab coats or chemicals...or field trips!!</p>

<p>But, $45,000 should cover chemicals, man. That's pretty lame of Dartmouth.</p>

<p>I'm with you on that,graceilisae. I'll agree that lab courses are expensive to run, but at well over $40,000 you would think that this would be pretty well covered. Also, unless they just hide it, I don't see these same charges mentioned on the websites of the other Ivies. What gives?</p>

<p>Lets see..</p>

<p>All students need science class with lab to fulfill their distribution requirement for graduation. So if a studnet only takes the one lab it comes out to a $30 lab fee. Labs meet 1/week for 10 weeks that comes out to $3 per lab. </p>

<p>Large science cources with labs (ex chem 5/6) has lab sections and each section is then broken down into 4 sections. Example if you are in a monday section from 2 to 6 p.m that section is broken into 4 sections of approximately 10 students. Each student has their own lab set up.</p>

<p>For chem alone there are 12-15 labs per week for this one class. Materials have to be ordered, replaced and labs must be cleaned maintained.</p>

<p>In some schools the fees for lab are just incorporated in in the student fees that the all students pay for whether they take 1 lab or 10 labs over their undergrad careers. At the end of the day the $30 is a nit. You have some schools that don't charge for lab but charge for internet connection or phones (both which are free at Dartmouth). </p>

<p>Regarding your $40,000+ payment of tuition room and board. Most of this cost is used to cover the cost of running a university. This includes: maintenance and upkeep of the physical facility, salaries for teaching, administrative, and other staff positions. To the cost of the salaries add on approx 35% fringe to cover benefits (medical, dental, pensions, etc). Contrary to what you think it cost more than $40,000 per year to educate a student at Darmouth , the other Ivies, Williams and similiar schools. Do everyone begins with a subsidy.</p>

<p>In the end it is about choosing your battles. If one wants $30 buck in the end to stand between them and graudation, that is there choice. If a potential student finds lab fees on top of the cost of tuition to be so egregious, there are more than 3,000 other schools which they can attend.</p>

<p>Sybbie wrote that: Contrary to what you think it cost more than $40,000 per year to educate a student at Darmouth , the other Ivies, Williams and similiar schools. So everyone begins with a subsidy.</p>

<p>I've heard this quite a bit and I wonder, is this really true? Let's say that everyone paid full freight, no financial aid (and please, don't attack me for this, since I won't be going ANYWHERE without financial aid!) Would $40,000 really not cover costs if the interest genenerated from the endowment were free to be used solely to offset operating expenses and none were needed to subsidize tuition? I ask this because Sybbie's response got me thinking and I remember reading in the newspaper a year or so ago about a parent who tried to claim a certain portion of his kid's tution as a charitable contribution on his income tax. His claim, which he backed up with figures (whether or not they were accurate I don't know) was that if it weren't for financial aid his son's tuition would be less and the "difference" was actually a charitable contribution that he was being forced to make for someone else''s education. Interesting, but is that accurate?</p>

<p>
[quote]
if it weren't for financial aid his son's tuition would be less and the "difference" was actually a charitable contribution that he was being forced to make for someone else''s education. Interesting, but is that accurate?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is not true beacuse majority financial aid offered to students at Dartmouth comes from the institutional endowment.</p>

<p>FOr the class of 2008, Dartmouth provided over $35 million in need based financial aid in there form scholarships/grants. So this parent's tuition payment did not subsidied som other kid, unless the person is an alum of the college then yes, their alumni donations are abeing used to pay for another student's education.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eoir/pdfs/cds_200405_02.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/cds_200405_02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Sorry Sybbie, but unless I am missed something you are actually SUPPORTING rather than refuting the argument of the guy who claimed that a portion of his tuition was a forced charitable contribution. As I understnd it, he argued that without financial aid the endowment would not be spent on scholarships but rather the considerable interst from the endowment could be spent on the institutional overhead thus lowering the overall need for money from tuition. If you are arguing in the case of Dartmouth that for the class of '08, Dartmouth provided $35 million in need based aid, without financial aid wouldn't this $35 million have stayed put in the endowment and the interest generated by the endowment (how big is the endowment anyway? and let's say they earn 6% on it, what number would that be?) could then be used to offset institution expenses.</p>

<p>The endowment is over $2 billion </p>

<p>Sorry Coldcomfort I am not an accountant so I can not better explain this to you. So I have attached the following links so you cna get a better idea of how money is spent.</p>

<p>Link to the office of the controller</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Econtrol/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~control/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Here is the 2003 financial statements</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Econtrol/pdfs/2003DCFinancials.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~control/pdfs/2003DCFinancials.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Dartmouth could easily fill the school with full paying students but it would be a different type of school.</p>

<p>Remember that Dartmouth's focus is on educating undergrads. They do not have the income streams in the form of research grants coming in at the level that it may come into other schools . Research monies usually come to through the graduate schools and is earmarked through graduate students. Students at Dartmouth and the elite LACs do a great deal of research at the undergrad level tht is comprable to that done at the graduate level.</p>