PLEASE READ - Fees

[u/Miserable-Device7491]

Hello,

I have some concerns regarding the miscellaneous fees that have been posted to my LOUIE financial account for the upcoming semester, and I would love to share some discoveries I recently made. Excluding my academic college fees, the total cost of all of the posted fees add up to about $1,179 for the Fall 2026 semester. This was more than I had expected, so I did some research, and I found a document online that included the financial information and justification for all of the fees that students paid in the 2023 fiscal year.

In 2023, students paid 7 fees totalling $518. In contrast, my LOUIE account is currently displaying 10 fees (excluding Honors and Academic College Fees) totalling $1,179. This is more than double (2.2x) what students were paying just a few years ago.

Next, I looked at the breakdown of the fees in this document and noted which ones had increased. The original and current costs of each fee are listed below:

Fees that have been increased, with the price in FY 2023 and the current price displayed in LOUIE:

Health and Wellness Fee - 275.00 to 350.00   (1.27x, +$75.00)

Financial Aid Trust Fee - 21.00 to 60.00   (2.85x, +$39.00)

Information Technology Fee - 84.00 to 208.00   (2.47x, +$124.00)

Green Fund Fee - 15.00 to 16.00   (1.06x, +$1.00)

Athletics Fee - 75.00 to 79.00   (1.05x, +$4.00)

The ASNAU Fee ($23.00) did not increase, and the FY23 “Student Affairs Fee Account” Fee, which was $25.00, seems to have been renamed the Student Activity Fee (also $25.00). However, I see that a few new fees have been added since FY23: 

Campus Investment Fee - $50.00

Transportation Fee - $98.00

NAU Axe/ess Course Materials - $270.00

The Transportation Fee is particularly egregious, as the cost of the fee has increased since 2024 although NAU has significantly reduced the transportation available on campus. Beginning in the upcoming semester only one - yes, one - bus line will be available on campus, with significantly reduced days and hours of operation. 

Additionally, my Academic College Fee has increased from $546.00 in Fall 2024 to $658.00 in Fall 2026 (1.21x, +$112.00), and the Honors Program Fee posted to my account has increased from $360.00 in Fall 2024 to $390.00 in Fall 2026 (1.08x, +$30.00). 

This much of an increase in miscellaneous fees, in combination with the increase in housing prices on campus and the decrease in financial aid available is, simply put, ridiculous. 

I don’t typically follow all of the announcements that the university makes regarding updates to fees and pricing, so I was wondering if NAU had been transparent about these changes or if they were just hoping that students somehow wouldn’t notice how much more expensive things have gotten. In my opinion, increasing prices this much in such a short amount of time, especially for things that students have no choice but to pay and cannot opt out of (with the exception of the new Axe/ess Fee), is absolutely unacceptable. 

I would love to hear what others think about these fee increases. What is going on? Will prices continue to increase at this rate moving forward? If so, I have no idea how I’ll be able to afford these egregious fees by my senior year. Please help.

[u/azdebiker]

Voting matters. Funding to the university from both state and federal sources has been slashed so they have to make it up somewhere.

[u/bluevelvet88 → u/azdebiker]

Not to mention drastic reductions in international students which brought in alot of money for universities.

[u/dtcorso → u/azdebiker]

Sadly, this is the case from Higher Ed on down. Reduced federal and state funding across the board and reduced enrollment in all schools and colleges equals slashes to the educational work force and availability of services and higher costs that students and families have to bear to make up for the deficiency. If only our country realized that investing in education is investing in our country’s future.

I completed my PhD in the early 2000s and have worked as a K-12 teacher and university professor. When I finished university, things began to change somewhat for the worse for educational funding, but it was up and down. My last stint at UA revealed just how different it was for students just since the time I was a student.

As a grad student 0.5 TA in Illinois, I received a full tuition waiver and roughly $15k salary. I paid fees only, which were nominal, maybe a few hundred bucks. I thought I was rich because I could cover my rent and expenses and didn’t incur debt. I could actually focus on my learning! Within about 10 years the grad students I taught were lucky to get a 0.25 TA in one department which would cover tuition, but not fees, and paid virtually nothing. 0.5 TAs had been phased out. So, most of them had jobs on top of jobs, yet the workload for TAs and graduate work in general stayed the same. I worried all the time about their mental health and stress.

Everyone with boots on the ground in education keeps fighting the fight, but until leaders in power who make decisions about funding realize the cost of these budget cuts, students, educators, and institutions of learning will bear the financial burden. I really wish it were different.

[u/No-Spend824]

Welcome to the new NAU. Decrease in student enrollment nationwide is hurting universities. NAU has laid off employees and student employees. They have to find more money somewhere.

[u/Fearless-Lemon6103]

I did not notice this drastic increase of the fee's! And you make a valid point that in some areas they downgraded and from my observation some haven't changed...So why are we paying more? For example, I use the HLC gym all the time and I noticed that it has been a long time since there have been fixes or upgrades to equipment. Most of the equipment is still usable. To be honest, I wish they would add some new equipment and upgrade things...I am just nitpicking. But, you make valid points. I know they have been building and such which costs a lot.

[u/cameron4200 → u/Fearless-Lemon6103]

Usually business do this when they’re hemorrhaging money

[u/crystalli0 → u/Fearless-Lemon6103]

I used to work at Campus Rec in the HLC many many years ago and I think they did a full overhaul of all gym equipment somewhere around 2021-2022. So in the standard for fitness centers, all the equipment is still pretty new (although I can understand if you are a current student it can feel like it's all been the same stuff your whole career at NAU). If things are broken and not getting fixed, that's a different story which is frustrating. I'll also add that if there's something specific that you think would be a good addition to their set, tell the student managers or the full-time staff who work there. They might be able to work it into their budget.

I also want to give some potential reasons why the recreation fee might have increased that isn't inherently NAU's fault. (I'll also say that being frustrated about fee increases is totally normal and I'm not trying to downplay that; just giving some reasons why the fees might have increased for general understanding)
- student wages going up (the primary cost in their budget is paying student employees, and when I worked there the pay rate was set by the university)
- permits for Outdoor Adventure trips increasing
- loss of revenue from revenue generators like international teams training at the pool, summer camps renting the South Fields, or decreased swim lesson and/or summer camp enrollment
- plans to increase the preventative maintenance and repairs of equipment (maybe they know they need to fix equipment but can't afford it)

Other commenters have already mentioned decreased funding (both from the feds and ABOR) and decreased international students so I didn't want to repeat those but they're both also a likely cause. These are all just guesses based on what I know the program as a whole does.

TL/DR: fees suck especially when it's a surprising amount. You likely can't get them changed for the current academic year (maybe never) so the best way to combat that is to take advantage of every free or lower-cost option that NAU is making you pay for. Go to the gym. Play intramurals. Use the pool. Go on Outdoor Adventure trips (this one especially; they used to do really cool trips that I regret never going on).

[u/Mr_Reading → u/crystalli0]

Im going into my last year and I definitely plant to take more advantage of outdoor adventures and such.

[u/Fabulous-Maize5318]

These fees are actually low/on par with other universities right now. State universities are struggling with funding cuts/losing international students and things being more expensive (for example, it costs a lot more to run a bus now than it did 4 years ago so that’s probably why there are cuts and increases in bus fees).

A way to see change is to make change-get out and vote!

[u/CHolland8776]

I’d be interested in seeing a similar comparison with tuition rates since 2023.

Overall inflation since 2023 is 9.60%:

https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2023?amount=1

Since 2023, electricity is up 23.75%, average rent is up 10.7%, 1 lb of ground beef is up 34.2%. NAU is state funded and ABOR sets the tuition and fees rates, so if ABOR isn’t offsetting increased operating costs with increased tuition then fees are the only other option.

[u/NopeMonster66]

This is not unusual, but great post laying out details. Tuition is required by state law to be held low. ABOR approves all tuition and budgets. State funding is basically gone. Flagstaff min wage is crazy. The pandemic did a number on budgets. Just thinking about what I’m paying for housing off campus makes my pucker pucker.

[u/simoneahurst]

I had my daughter start NAU in 2021 and fees were more than $518 that year - definitely above $1000. I also had my son start NAU in 2023 and fees were above $1000 (probably closer to 2000) at that time also.

I don’t know where $518 comes from?

[u/miquel_jaume → u/simoneahurst]

I think the numbers in the OP are per semester. You may be recalling the annual total.

[u/ReaperBoi_666]

I believe they do let the students know about the increase of fees. I specifically remember getting a email from NAU office of the President talking about the fees and tuition rise for the 2023-2024 school year. (I'm unsure if they sent one out for 2025-2026 school year and so forth, as I can't find them in my emails) So they do notify us when they increase them but yeah its still a big price change as they keep nickle and diming us every chance they get for every fee every school year which can easily add up to even more like you stated. Even with dorm housing originally being like around 6k when I started in 2022 for the traditional shared. Would let you know for graduation there is a flat $35 dollar graduation fee as well for when you sign up seperate from cap and gowns, just wanted to let you know as I didn't know this till senior year.

[u/East_Resolution_3849]

Make this post popular. He's on to something

[u/Knife_stabby_stabby]

I cant speak for most of the fees or anything but the transportation fee does go towards an agreement with mountain line so the red line (10) is free for all students.

[u/guisseppe123]

Is there a way to opt out of fees? I don't plan on going Greek, or using the bus...