Fees must be published. The published listing is updated annually and all fees are effective the subsequent fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). All fees must go through the review process, which begins in September for a July 1 effective date. During the annual review units can request changes to existing fees and request new fees.
If a university website is used to list the complete fee offerings, that website must remain static (unchanged) for the entire fiscal year. The fee committee must give approval in advance before a website is used instead of listing the individual services in the fee book(s). When a website is used to provide the detailed pricing, there should be a fee listed in the fee book with the applicable range for the services provided by the unit.
Annual Review for 2025-26 Academic Year / 2026 Summer Session (Fiscal Year 2026)
Calendar
- Week of September 23, 2024 annual update process opens, fee worksheets and guidelines are distributed to units
- October 21, 2024 fee deadline for proposals to be submitted to BRP
- Schools/Colleges requests must be approved by the VP/Dean or designee prior to returning to BRP
- Administrative units require a VP or designee approval prior to submission
- OVPRI will review and approve for research units prior to submission
- November/December 2024 fee proposals reviewed by BRP and the VPFA/CFO
- Late-January 2025 course fee proposals and housing rates are reviewed by the Tuition and Fee Advisory Board (TFAB)
- Review meeting held with ASUO
- February 2025 public comment period opens to accept feedback on proposed changes
- March 2025 final approval by the VPFA/CFO
- UO Board is notified of the fee changes
- July 1, 2025 approved fees rates are effective at the beginning of the fiscal year
For questions about the guidelines contact Stuart Laing, Fee Administrator.
How To Request a New Fee or Revise an Existing Fee
- Policies on Tuition, Mandatory Enrollment Fees and Other Charges, Fines, and Fees
- Requesting a New Fee or Revise an Existing Fee
- Fee Budget Worksheets
- Course Fee Review by Term
- Laboratory, Field Trips, and Course Fees Guidelines
- Other Charges, Fees and Fines for Services, Facilities, Operations, and Programs Guidelines
Requesting New Fees or Revise an Existing Fee
Departments should be aware that, while the course fee is considered a cost of education, it is not calculated into the standard budgets used to award aid. Therefore, departments should be judicious in deciding which courses truly require a fee.
Fees assessed should be at a sufficient dollar level to justify the administrative expense to the university’s overall operation. For course fees, the recommended threshold for what constitutes a sufficient dollar level is $10. Collection of fees in the classroom or by any other means is not allowed.
Course fees will not be added after the class schedule has opened to students. Therefore, requests must be made well in advance for the term in which the fee is to be assessed.
Fee proposals are submitted to Budget and Resource Planning for review. Requests can be submitted as an interim fee outside of the annual review when it relates to a change in curriculum or a demonstrated emergency need exists. Requests submitted outside of the annual review requires at least one month for review. This allows sufficient time for review and implementation.
New fee requests (and all requests submitted outside of the annual review) must include a narrative describing the purpose of the fee and a budget worksheet showing anticipated revenues and expenditures. After preparing your documents, launch an electronic approval workflow (forms.uoregon.edu > Budget and Resource Planning > BRP Campus Services). Launching the workflow will send the documents through an approval and routing workflow, including unit and dean or vice president approval where appropriate. Research Core Facilities fees must go through the AVP for Research Facilities prior to submission to BRP.
Budget and Resource Planning can assist all departments in setting appropriate rates based on allowable costs.
Fee Budget Worksheets
The budget worksheets can be used to estimate rates for course fees and other fees, fines, penalties, or service charges. Complete and submit the budget with your fee request. The greater the detail that is provided within this form, the lower the likelihood there will be for additional questions or concerns.
Course Fee Rate Setting Worksheet
Other Charges, Fees and Fines Rate Setting Worksheet
Course Fee Review by Term
The Registrar’s office runs an audit each term to verify that course fees attached to CRNs have been approved and that the fee amount does not exceed the rate approved. BRP builds on these audits by conducting quarterly reviews of select course fees. The quarterly review looks at how the fee revenue is being used and what fee balances are being maintained in a unit. If a unit’s balance is accumulating and revenues consistently exceed expenditures an action plan will be recommended.
All course fees are listed at the maximum amount allowable but a fee can be charged at a lower amount or canceled as needed. For example, the course has a field trip fee but the instructor has decided the class will not go on the field trip for a term. In this example, the fee should be canceled. The fee can be re-started for future terms as needed.
Recommended Unit Review
The Course Fee Report, run in Banner FIS/Student SWREGRP, generates a list of courses that have one or more course fees assigned in Banner FIS/Student SSADETL. The report provides you with the CRN, subject, credit subject, course number, title, account detail code, account detail description, fee amount, fee type, credit hours, and tuition waiver indicator. This report should be used to review your department course fees that are assessed in addition to regular tuition and fees.
Please contact the Registrar’s office as soon as you know a course fee needs to be adjusted or canceled. Accurate fee information needs to be in place before registration begins.
Laboratory, Field Trips, and Course Fees
Generally, laboratory and course fees can be assessed for special, unique costs required for materials or other tangible products or services. These fees are defined as a lab fee, field trip fee, or a course fee. Students should be made aware of all course fees through the class registration process.
Examples of laboratory or course fees that MAY be charged:
- Transportation and admission costs incurred on field trips that are required activities
- Snacks and meals consumed during the trip may be included if doing so simplifies scheduling and represents a cost savings for students
- Rental or use fees for specialized equipment or service center used exclusively for instruction during a set time
- Rental or use fees for on campus facilities where a usage fee is normally charged
- Private instruction such as one-on-one study with an instructor for music performance
- Expendable material (including specimens) such as:
- Materials of a specialized nature not readily available in retail stores
- Materials that can be purchased by the department in large quantities at significant cost savings to the students
- Materials that must conform to certain specifications and be identical for all students
- Expensive materials needed by each student in such small quantities that they could not normally be purchased economically
- Selected miscellaneous expenses such as:
- Annual costs for materials, supplies and equipment that needs to be refreshed every few years, must be specific to a course and used by all students in a classroom or lab, (e.g. cost of annual breakage in labs), shall be subject to review on a case-by-case basis
- User licenses, provided that those licenses are specific to the individual students taking the course. In general, site licenses may not be purchased through course fees (unless reasonable estimates can be made of the share of use belonging to a particular course, or the site license fee is less than the sum of fees for individual purchase by students)
- Art class models for hire, musical accompanists, and mock patients for clinical practice classes
- Supervisory instruction (including travel) for in-context training classes such as onsite student teaching
- Special instruction support (not instruction), individuals hired to provide various types of technical support and safety oversight in labs, (e.g. lab assistants), shall be subject to review on a case-by-case basis
The following MAY NOT be included in laboratory or course fees, but does not represent an exclusive listing:
- The cost of any instructor of record or grader (including leading scheduled discussion sections, recitations, or lab sections), except for private instruction such as one-on-one study with an instructor for music performance or certain non-required physical education courses
- Example: salaries, wages and employee benefits
- Regular classroom materials and supplies
- Example: paper, photo copies, markers, chalk, extension cords, etc.
- Honorariums or travel costs for guests, speakers or practitioners for instructional support, non-UO employee
- Items such as reference materials or audio/video collections that are used during the course of instruction and retained for use in the college or department
- Example: In a chemistry class, a course fee may not be assessed to purchase journals that are retained by the department for current and future students to check out.
Other Charges, Fees and Fines for Services, Facilities, Operations, and Programs
Other Fees, Fines, Penalties, and Service Charges are fees assessed by departments to the UO community and to non-UO businesses, organizations and individuals. All fees for goods and services shall be determined by taking into account their full cost, including university overhead when applicable, as well as, the prices of such items in the marketplace. Some charges, fines and fees may be established at a level to deter conduct that is contrary to university policies and standards or applicable law. Charges, fees and fines are for purposes such as the following: auxiliary services such as housing, food services, and parking; use of facilities; athletics and other tickets and events; and violation of policies and standards, such as late fines for library books and parking fines.
Examples of appropriate uses include the following:
- Online fees assessed to students enrolled in online courses
- Replacement of lost items fees: such as athletic equipment, keys, parking permits, etc.
- Library fines and fees associated with the use of the library and its resources
- Service Charges assessed for miscellaneous services
- Equipment rental charges assessed for the rental of equipment at the university
- Room rental charges assessed for the rental of space at the university
- Application fees to a program
- Charges for auxiliary services such as housing, food services and student centers
- Parking fees and fines associated with parking at the university and violation of campus regulations
- Collections, interest and billing charges assessed to individuals with outstanding university account balances, such as interest and/or late payment and collection fees on past-due debts
- Conduct related fines assessed to students as a consequence of non-compliance with student conduct requirements