Campus Fee Process

• Approval/Denial Letter comes from SUNY Due Dates: 60 business days after dates above.

Guidelines for Course Fees (wording from policy):

A fee may be charged for a course, or courses, that have extraordinary costs that meet the following criteria: this listing is not intended to be all-inclusive:

Special course supplies and materials where the student retains an end product of worth,

• Special and unique services provided by the course,
• Extraordinary costs associated directly with degree, diploma, or certificate program delivery
• Costs associated with a course specific to scientific chemicals, supplies and materials, modest equipment, and proper disposal of waste,
• The fee represents a financially significant savings to the student

Note that these fees are not permitted for routine materials (textbooks, etc.) and revenue from these fees may not be used to fund the cost of instruction, academic staff, or technicians.

Course Based Fees, including amounts, must be disclosed in campus publications used by students for degree, course, and area of study selection by departments for each semester taught.

Requirements for Course Fee Submission

• Listing of actual materials required for the course over one average year.
  List should include detail as follows
  • Consumable Items (used up in one semester or given to student):
    • Detailed description of item
    • Cost per unit
    • Number of units needed
    • Number of units/student
    • Number of students
    • Link to shopping cart per item
    • Why it's needed
  • Equipment/Long-term Use Items (more than one semester):
    • Detailed description of item
    • Cost of unit (Initial or Replacement Value)
    • Number of items purchased/in inventory
    • Useful Life (in years)
    • Average number of students per year
    • Total days item is used
    • Link to shopping cart per item
    • Why it's needed
    • If item is shared across courses, other course usage/share of costs needs to be transparent and reported along with request.
  • Transportation
    • Campus Owned Vehicles
      • State rate/charge (Travel website)
      • Miles to and from locations
      • Number of vehicles
      • State Excel document for transportation cost comparison
    • Rented Vehicles
      • Vehicle type
      • Dates of rental
      • Cost per day
      • State Excel document for transportation cost comparison
  • Lodging - Please provide support for pricing:
    • Invoice containing name, address, contact info, total length/dates of stay and price per day

Process:

• Requestor of Fee completes a Department Course Fee Request Form (PDF)
  • Including all lists and all support mentioned above
  • Submit to business-affairs@potsdam.edu
• Requestor of Fee provides detailed justification for course fee 
  • New Fees 
    • Explain the need to establish the course fee, what has changed to require the new course fee, how does it benefit students
  • Change in approved course fee level
    • Describe what has changed that requires a change in the level of fee assessed.
• Submit all the above to Potsdam Business Affairs Office for initial review
  • Business Affairs Office will either ask for additional clarification/support or send request on to SUNY System Administration for review.
• System Administration will complete various levels of review throughout the 60-business day processing time. Fee Requestor and Business Affairs should expect to receive questions throughout this process to gain a better understanding of the request. 
  • For additional detail on timelines of review etc. please refer to the Fee Policy.

Fee Categories

The SUNY Fee Policy categorizes fees into three different categories: broad-based, mandatory, and campus-authorized. Broad-based fees appear on the student’s bill as a mandatory fee while mandatory and campus authorized fees appear on the student’s bill as either optional or other fees.

Broad-based and mandatory fees require SUNY approval.

Broad-Based Fees

Broad-based fees are generally charged to the majority of students enrolled at SUNY Potsdam in order to finance discrete activities that benefit the student body, excluding any and all activities that could be considered to be part of the “Core Operations” of the campus that are funded by tuition and direct/indirect state tax support dollars.

Mandatory Fee

Mandatory fees are authorized by the SUNY Board of Trustees to be charged in line with guidelines issues by the board of trustees following approval by the chancellor. The fees are charged due to a student’s action or inaction. Mandatory fees are charged either by a set dollar value or a dollar value range.

Campus-Authorized Fees

• Fee Policy