Major Categories of Fees.  Georgia Tech levies the following two major types of fees:

• Other Elective Fees and Special Charges – fees and charges that are paid selectively by students;
• Mandatory Fees – fees that are assessed to all students, all undergraduate students, or all full-time undergraduate students on one or more campuses. These fees are NOT governed by this policy.  See the following Institute policy: Mandatory Student Fee and Budget Review. 

Review and Approval Process.  Approval by the President of Georgia Tech is required for all elective fees and special charges per the Board of Regents (BOR) policy but Georgia Tech must annually report to the Chancellor any new fees or adjustments to existing fees. All fee changes are implemented in the following academic year, beginning with the fall semester. The following are four exceptions to the president’s autonomous approval authority:

Fees for All Students in a Grade Level – approval by the BOR, following the same approval process as for mandatory student fees, of any fee or special charge that is required to be paid by any subgroup of students categorized solely by grade level or previous credit hours earned, such as a fee that applies to all freshman (no fees in this category currently in place at Georgia Tech);.

Fees for Students in a Specific Degree Program – approval by the BOR of an elective fee or special charge required for all students in a specific degree program or in a specific course, with the exception of laboratory fees and supplemental course material fees;

Housing and Food Service Fees – approval by the USG chief fiscal officer of housing fees for on-campus facilities and fees paid by students who choose a campus food service plan.

General Guidelines for Review of Elective Fees.  Increases in all elective fees should be kept moderate and gradual. Fees approved under this policy must be reviewed by the Bursar's Office to determine the most appropriate way to assess and collect these fees; all approved fees must be administered and collected directly by the Bursar’s Office. Elective fees and special charges are reviewed on an annual basis to determine use, effectiveness, and appropriateness for continuation.

Services Funded through Fees.  Departments and schools are expected to cover normal instructional costs within their General Operations budgets, and elective fees and special charges should be needed only in exceptional situations. The financial needs of the department or school must be weighed against the impact of the fees on students and the cost of administering the fees (assessment and collection costs). The purpose of assessing an elective fee is to fund specific, unique costs that are the result of an educational choice made by the student. Fees must be used to augment, rather than replace, general budgeted funds for departmental instructional costs.

The following are examples of what may be funded through elective fees and special charges:

• Cost of providing course materials to be consumed, retained or used by the student;
• Special costs associated with the use of Institute-owned tools and equipment for non-mandatory, special supplemental academic programs or educational experiences that directly benefit students;
• Cost of other materials, equipment, or services necessary to provide a special supplemental educational experience or program of direct benefit to the student;
• Salary and fringe benefit cost of laboratory assistants for the time spent in a specific lab for which lab fees are charged;
• Doctoral binding fees and transcript fees.

This policy specifically excludes the following cost items to be paid through elective fees:

• Salaries, wages, and employee benefits of faculty involved in course instruction;
• Instructional equipment located and utilized in classrooms and labs primarily during scheduled periods of instruction;
• Reproduction of copyrighted materials or course syllabi.