2008 Woodie Awards
Lab fee use not always audited
One department coordinator says students charged more than needed
By: David Johns
Issue date: 3/30/06 Section: News
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Lab fees are often charged to student accounts with little explanation for why the funds are necessary for a particular course. Many students don't know where lab fee money ends up or what it is ultimately used for.
"I have more questions than opinions regarding lab fees," said sophomore Jenny Desuza, a fine arts major. "I wonder where the money goes, and I suspect they probably don't spend all of it on supplies."
Desuza's opinion is shared by many students who have questions about lab fees.
Suspicion can be easily understood, however, since questions about lab fees, no matter the department, are not easily answered and are instead met with transferals to several
offices on campus.
Little is known by any one person about how lab fees travel
around the university. No department can accurately comment on another department's procedures, whether they're willing to discuss their own or not.
According to information provided by several departmental chairs, lab fees are requested by professors for individual classes, then sent to the department chair or the department's coordinating assistant. The coordinating assistant then enters lab fee amounts into Webster's course database. This is done for each class, every semester it is offered.
Geraldine Lovejoy, department assistant in the registrar's office, said her department assembles the course summaries, as they are called, and sends them to be printed into the course guide for each semester. Lab fees are listed in the course guide by class.
For classes registered, the business office assigns lab fees to student accounts as they are listed in the course guide. They tag the lab fees by departments and hold them for use, according to a business office representative.
Over the course of a semester, the instructor of a class with lab fees will pay for costs accrued out of his or her own pocket. For reimbursement, the instructor must provide receipts for the requested amounts along with a request form, either a petty cash voucher for amounts under $50 or a formal request voucher for those exceeding that amount.
"I have more questions than opinions regarding lab fees," said sophomore Jenny Desuza, a fine arts major. "I wonder where the money goes, and I suspect they probably don't spend all of it on supplies."
Desuza's opinion is shared by many students who have questions about lab fees.
Suspicion can be easily understood, however, since questions about lab fees, no matter the department, are not easily answered and are instead met with transferals to several
offices on campus.
Little is known by any one person about how lab fees travel
around the university. No department can accurately comment on another department's procedures, whether they're willing to discuss their own or not.
According to information provided by several departmental chairs, lab fees are requested by professors for individual classes, then sent to the department chair or the department's coordinating assistant. The coordinating assistant then enters lab fee amounts into Webster's course database. This is done for each class, every semester it is offered.
Geraldine Lovejoy, department assistant in the registrar's office, said her department assembles the course summaries, as they are called, and sends them to be printed into the course guide for each semester. Lab fees are listed in the course guide by class.
For classes registered, the business office assigns lab fees to student accounts as they are listed in the course guide. They tag the lab fees by departments and hold them for use, according to a business office representative.
Over the course of a semester, the instructor of a class with lab fees will pay for costs accrued out of his or her own pocket. For reimbursement, the instructor must provide receipts for the requested amounts along with a request form, either a petty cash voucher for amounts under $50 or a formal request voucher for those exceeding that amount.