Academic surcharges continue to impact students

Rohan Jani/Staff Writer

Students have been charged extra fees in their tuition when they end up taking more credits than recommended to graduate since the Florida Legislature passed a statute in 2009.

This policy, better known as the “excess credit hour surcharge,” was established to motivate students to graduate on time. However, this sort of policy poses a problem for students who take extra courses to fulfill scholarship requirements, are part of multiple programs or simply were undecided and took courses to explore different majors.

These sort of cases may cause students to surpass the course credit limit set by the statute and end up posing a financial burden as a surcharge is applied for every additional course taken.

“Surcharges limit learning,” said Sachin Koorathota, a junior in computer science and information management. “It’s a bad business move, but the state and federal government have their regulations; therefore, FIU cannot be singly blamed.”

Koorathota said the problem is bigger than just FIU students, since all other student communities across the state that are being weighed down by extraneous fees for exceeding credit hour limits.

There is no waiver, but students can appeal to review the hours that have been applied to their surcharge.

April Lewis, a senior academic advisor and manager for Undergraduate Education, collaborates with FIU OneStop Enrollment Services to review records of students who are potentially facing excess credit surcharges.

“I am not directly in charge of any final decisions regarding excess credit surcharge, but if a student feels they qualify for an exclusion, I review the transcript to determine if exclusions apply,” she said.

If the student presents certain classes where the credits can be excluded, Lewis lets OneStop know and they update the student’s counter, she said.

Some of the acceptable bases for appeals include credit hours earned through internships,  certification programs, courses as a dual major while completing the primary program, English as a second language or remedial courses and courses withdrawn due to medical or personal hardship.

Failed courses, classes dropped after the add/drop period, withdrawn courses, repeated courses without the repeat surcharge and transfer credits all apply to the excess credit surcharge.

“Students are frustrated when they find themselves [in this dilemma], and feel that it is an unfair policy,” she said.

Lewis said that the excess credit surcharge is not a University policy, but a Florida Statute and all institutions have to comply.

“The purpose of the statute is to encourage students to complete a degree in a timely fashion,” she said. “Students who decide on a major and follow their major maps, stay on track and do not fail, repeat or take unnecessary classes will not face surcharge [problems].”

She believes that, within four to six years, the policy may not be any more restrictive than it is now.

For students that entered the University between 2009 and summer 2011, they can take 120 percent of the credits required over their course credit limit before they are charged. Students that began an undergraduate program between 2011 and summer 2012, the limit is 115 percent; since 2012, it is 110 percent.

For example, if the program is 120 semester hours to graduate, then a student that began their program before fall 2011 can take up to 144 credits; a student that began before fall 2012 can take up to 138 credits and any student that began after then can take up to 132 credits.

The excess fee adds 50 percent of per-credit tuition for students that began their programs in before fall 2011. Since then, the fees are 100 percent of tuition.

Exceeding the credit limitation on class schedules can become the most difficult dilemma to fix, as students continually wish to finish more classes in fewer years and worry less about their expected graduation date if they tend to progress quickly.

There is also the worry of students failing courses and having to repeat them for a better grade, only adding to the surcharges that will have to be paid off at some point down the road.

In the end, Lewis believes it is imperative that all students at the University take advantage of the resources offered to them and look to success through course completion each semester.

Joshua Ouseph, a junior in psychology, said he believes that surcharges can become an obstacle for the University.

“I think if students want to enroll in more courses, then [the University] shouldn’t have surcharges, because [the students] are showing more initiative,” Ouseph says.

In his opinion, there should be less worry on the monetary side of the issue, and more focus on how students can excel by getting ahead in their course requirements.

Student Media requested the current number of students being affected by surcharges, but were unable to receive exact figures from the respective departments.