Administrative

TUITION AND FEES

Adopted: February 10, 1995

Amended: May 10, 1996; April 11, 1997; June 12, 1998; March 12, 1999; December 10, 2004

Supersedes: (see end of policy)

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

BOARD OF REGENTS POLICY

 

 

TUITION AND FEES

This policy establishes the basic principles for assessing, collecting, and managing tuition and fees at the University of Minnesota (University).

 

SECTION I. GUIDING PRINCIPLES.

The University is a publicly-supported institution whose programs benefit individual students, the state, and the nation. The following principles shall guide the assessment, collection, and management of tuition and fees at the University:

Subd. 1. Shared Responsibility. The University's tuition and fee assessments shall reflect the shared responsibility, benefits, and needs of the individual student, the University, and the state.

Subd. 2. Access, Retention, and Timely Progress. The tuition rate structure shall provide appropriate incentives for access, retention, and timely progress toward the degree.

Subd. 3. Determinants of Tuition Rates and Related Fees. Tuition rates and related fees shall take into account the competitive environment of individual programs, personal benefits to individual students, and social needs as well as the level of state appropriations for the University's instructional programs. Graduate tuition rates, graduate assistant wage rates, and tuition waiver and remission policies shall enable recruitment of the best students to ensure that the quality of graduate programs is maintained and that the institution benefits from the contributions of graduate students to instructional and research programs.

Subd. 4. Assessment and Collection of Tuition and Fees. All tuition and fees assessed by the University shall be collected and managed under approved University business procedures.

SECTION II. TUITION GUIDELINES.

Subd. 1. Tuition Assessment. All students receiving credit-based instruction shall be assessed tuition or a comprehensive fee in lieu of tuition.

Subd. 2. Residency. The Board shall establish the University's residency policy, consistent with state and federal law. The president or delegate shall approve interpretive conventions of resident tuition status, subject to Board review. Students shall be provided an opportunity to present arguments for possible classification as a resident for University purposes.

Subd. 3. Tuition Reciprocity Agreements. Subject to Board approval, the University may participate in tuition reciprocity agreements with other states and Canadian provinces. These agreements shall specify the extent to which tuition is waived. Consistent with state law, the president shall recommend to the Board for action any additions or modifications to reciprocity agreements. The Board affirms that participation in reciprocity agreements involving the remission of nonresident tuition is based on adequate funding through the Governor's Office and the Minnesota State Legislature.

Subd. 4. Consortium and Exchange Agreements. The president may approve consortium and exchange agreements with other institutions and other academic programs for the conduct of student exchanges and visiting student/scholar programs.

Subd. 5. Tuition Rates. The president shall recommend to the Board for action the following tuition rates:

(a) Undergraduate Students — For each campus, the resident tuition rates shall be the same for all undergraduate students

and the nonresident tuition rates shall be the same for all

undergraduate students.

(b) Graduate Students — Tuition rates for graduate students may vary by program, but shall be established on a

cost-related basis within market rates.

(c) Professional Students — Tuition rates for professional students may vary by program, but shall be established on a cost-related basis within market rates. The president or delegate shall determine the appropriate market comparisons for the professional schools of medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, and law.

(d) Departmental Master's Degree Students — Tuition rates for departmental master's students may vary by program, but shall be established at a level above the undergraduate rate.

(e) Non-degree Students — The president shall recommend tuition rates for non-degree students on each campus, recognizing that differences between degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students may justify differences in tuition rates.

(f) Nonresidents — Nonresident, non-reciprocity tuition rates for undergraduate, graduate, professional, and departmental master's degree students shall be set at rates higher than for resident students.

(g) Part-time Students — Tuition rates and fees shall recognize the difference in cost between full-time and part-time students.

Subd. 6. Exceptions. The president may recommend for Board action that nonresident, non-reciprocity students be charged resident student tuition rates on a campus, in certain colleges or programs, or for distance education courses delivered by correspondence or electronically to students defined as off-campus by administrative policy.

Subd. 7. Tuition Waivers and Remissions. Tuition may be waived or remitted selectively in order to accommodate state law, to provide financial discounts to students the University is seeking to attract, to offer University employees a benefit, to promote cooperation with other educational institutions, to support the international exchange of students, and to serve humanitarian purposes. As a general rule, a tuition waiver or remission program shall be offered only if the University intends to provide such a benefit to all qualifying students, regardless of financial circumstance. The president shall recommend for Board action the terms and conditions of any new tuition waiver or tuition remission programs, and the University shall state publicly the exceptions it will approve.

 

SECTION III. FEES.

The president may recommend for Board action assessment of the following fees:

Subd. 1. Administrative Fees. Administrative fees affect large classes of students directly benefiting from the services for which the fees are assessed.

Subd. 2. Course Fees. Course fees may be assessed when academic units:

(a) purchase materials that will be used in developing products that students will retain or consume;

(b) purchase from non-University vendors services or products that are subsequently provided to students as a requirement of a course;

(c) provide individual lessons to students; or

(d) deliver distance education courses by correspondence or electronically.

Course fees shall be assessed only in specifically justified situations and shall not be substituted for general budget support.

Subd. 3. Academic Fees. Academic fees are campus- and college-wide fees that may be assessed to all students enrolled on a campus or in a college for special equipment, supplies, and services, provided that each campus uses no more than one campus-wide fee and that each college uses no more than one college-wide fee. The Academic Health Center also may assess special fees for first-professional students.

 

SECTION IV. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY.

Subd. 1. Recommendations. The president shall recommend for Board action tuition rates for all levels of students and estimate tuition revenue in the Annual Operating Budget, which also shall include information regarding tuition practices, any proposed tuition refund schedules, and administrative, academic, or course fees.

Subd. 2. Implementation. The president or delegate shall implement tuition policy and assess tuition.

 

SUPERSEDES: TUITION POLICY DATED FEBRUARY 12, 1993; TUITION POLICY DATED NOVEMBER 10, 1993; AND TUITION WAIVER FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS AT THE MORRIS CAMPUS DATED FEBRUARY 10, 1961.