As the Executive-Director of a foundation which for many years has assisted young people to attend college,
I have developed a distaste for the manner in which the purveyors of “higher education” conduct themselves
when it comes to … money! And there is no question that the vast percentage of “our”
students regard colleges with the same warmth as they view other businesses.

This snapshot is an outgrowth of that attitude.

We all know the college experience is special. One example is the innovation displayed by their accountants.
As shown, in their financial approach, they shun the absurd and highly irritating small item breakdowns favored
by their counterparts in the telephone and cable industries. Whoops, they actually are no better.

College                                  Telephone                                              Cable

Activity fee 203.00                 Federal universal service charge 1.36   Basic fee 17.95
Tuition 21720.00                   Regulatory charge 0.21                          Box fee 10.00
Room 8153.75                      Administrative charge 1.23                     Broadcast tv surcharge 3.99
Meals 3575.00                      NJ 911 System fee 0.90                         Sports tv surcharge 4.97
Co-curricular fee 217.00       NJ sales tax 4.33                                    Preferred package 57.00
Health fee 361.00                 Smartphone line access 40.00               Sales tax 0.70
Internet fee 220.00               Wireless phone protection 7.15              Franchise fee 3.76
Course fee 5.00                   Monthly charge 40.00                             State regulation fee 0.08
Health insurance 2230.00    FCC user fee 0.08
College program fee 35.00
Athletic fee 287.50
Academic Excellence fee 187.50
University fee 62.50
Recreation fee 56.00
Academic Support fee 9.50
Academic Record fee 5.00
ID Card fee 5.00

Don’t you admire a college accounting staff that in a total cost environment of many thousands of dollars can
find another 50-75 cents to extract from the student. And the diligence with which they find a way
to isolate $5.00 for fees which the layman might assume were covered by tuition.

The telephone and cable industries should be pleased. Their bills are less complex than those of colleges. At
the same time, they should be chagrined because they get labeled as bad guys while colleges still have a
residual halo effect, though it is fast diminishing, in part because of these financial shenanigans.
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