Students who spend more than four years at Ball State could end up paying more than $1,800 more per semester because of a new excess credit hour fee.
According to an official statement sent to sophomores and freshmen by Terry King, vice president of academic affairs, students enrolled at Ball State for longer than four years and earning more than 144 credit hours will have to pay a $150 fee per credit hour.
This fee is to assure students graduate in four years and is intended to save students money in the long run, Marilyn Buck, associate provost, said.
“All the people in higher education believe that graduating in four years is ideal simply because college is expensive,” Buck said. “And graduating keeps you from continuing to pay and get into the workforce at that point.”
Buck said most programs are made to graduate in four years, but she understands that some students can have a hard time doing this by changing majors, having to remain employed during school and simple life problems.
“This is not just a Ball State plan; this is not just an Indiana plan,” Buck said. “The national conversation is on on-time graduation to keep costs down.”
When informed of the fee, Colin Mudroncik, a freshman architecture major, said he was not pleased.
“I think if you are earning credits, you shouldn’t have to pay more to get further education,” he said.
Chris Mccormack, a freshman pre-dentistry major, said the fee is not realistic.
“They are trying to rob already broke college kids,” Mccormack said.
Buck explained the rationale behind the system, saying the university gets a certain dollar amount for every student that graduates in four years. This is because of the Indiana Commission of Higher Education program, the performance funding formula.
Buck said this fee is set up to offset the money the university loses for students that do not graduate on time, although it comes nowhere close to overshadowing it.
Teresa Lubbers, Indiana commissioner for higher education, said the funding formula is based on Indiana’s values, which means funding that is based solely on performance.
Lubbers said the commission has enacted several programs that will allow students to graduate in four years, such as a 120 graduation credit standard, which as a part contains a 30 credit core, and it has also ensured that transfer students do not lose their earned credits.
Lubbers pushes students to take 15 hours per semester in order to graduate in four years, even though the state minimum for full-time education is 12 hours. She calls this plan “15 to finish.”
“If it takes students too long, they simply won’t complete,” Lubbers said. “If [students] don’t complete in time, they will run out of aid. Students leave college with an average of $27,000 in debt.”
In the vein of making it easier for students to graduate in four years, Bernie Hannon, associate vice president of the Ball State Office of Business Affairs, explained what Ball State is doing to make it cheaper for students.
Hannon said the university restructured its tuition by charging students within certain credit brackets one price, allowing students to take online courses at no extra charge and lowering the cost of summer classes.
“This is a carrot-and-stick process,” Hannon said. “The carrot is making it cheaper and the $500 completion bonus, but you have the stick as well. That is, if you are enrolled for more than four years and 144 credit hours, for any reason, that fee would apply.”
Some students say while it is good to graduate in four years, they do not agree with charging students more money to get extra education.
“I really don’t see it affecting me, because I have my four years planned out, but it’s a rotten deal for people who are double majoring,” said Hannah Carlock, a junior journalism and telecommunications major.
