You can’t waive broke

Discussion in the newsroom this week centered on a common complaint. While we admit that the rhetoric is getting stale, we can’t help but be infatuated with the obscure costs that leave you with nothing but lint-lined pockets. We’d all like to think that our money isn’t being squandered and most of the fees aren’t necessarily all that hidden.  A quick review of the account activity tab on MyCSC reveals where most of your funds are going this semester.

A lot of the fees listed provide for your health and comfort during your time here on campus.  If you don’t feel like paying them, chances are you’re not taking the time to enjoy the wonderful accommodations.

Look at the technology fee, and ask yourself the last time you said “I hate printing something for free in a campus computer lab.”  Or this Saturday night when you’re not out bowling for free, sit alone in your dorm room and silently curse the student activity fee.

What are some of the costs that you might not be planning on paying for?

Did you know that some internships are treated as online classes, and that most tuition waivers don’t apply to these courses?

The cost of these programs pay for Career and Academic Planning Services personnel to validate your portfolio and, give you the credits you’ve earned.

However, for those of us that rely on the tuition waivers to make it by, we’re getting short changed.  We understand that the college has to recoup in order to pay the hardworking professionals that sift through our paperwork, but why do we have to pay for it out of pocket?

For a three-credit-hour internship that’s required to graduate, and the 50 hours of often unpaid labor it takes to equal one credit hour, those costs quickly sour the experience.