Every semester N.C. State students go online to register for classes for the upcoming semester. Many of those courses students sign up to take are offered both on campus and online through distance education. ‘

Students enrolled in distance education courses are required to pay extra money in addition to full-time undergraduate tuition. Many students, however, do not know why they are required to pay the extra money. ‘

According to Vice Provost for Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications Tom Miller, the University does not establish these extra fees; the fees are mandated by the University of North Carolina System. This means that students at public universities throughout the state also have to pay the extra fees.’

Miller said that when the tuition was set for distance education in the late 1990s, the UNC System expected that students would sign up for either all on-campus courses or all online courses. However, in recent years, more and more students take both on-campus and distance education classes. ‘

While tuition for undergraduate on-campus courses is capped at 12 hours, the tuition for distance education is determined based on the number of credit hours a student signs up for. ‘

The tuition is based off a formula where the University takes the annual tuition rate, divides it by 29.6 and rounds it to the nearest dollar to determine how much a student will pay per credit hour.’

‘What you’re paying extra for is tuition fees. When they set up the way that we’re required to charge tuition for distance education it’s by credit hour,’ Miller said. ‘You actually pay less fees with distance education than you do with on-campus. You don’t pay student health fees or gym fees. Campus fees are not included in distance education fees.’

Miller, who attended a UNC-System meeting about this issue on Thursday, said that he does not believe it is fair to students and has been working for the past five years to get it changed. He said he would like to see the tuition for on-campus courses done by credit hour so that it is the same for both online and on-campus classes.

‘Everyone recognizes that this is a problem but they can’t seem to do anything about that. Some universities didn’t want to change the way the tuition is charged because they were afraid it would change the pattern of courses students would take,’ Miller said. ‘

Students such as Anna Holland, a junior in biological sciences, said she, like many other students, did not know the state was the one who required the money.

‘The policy should be changed,’ Holland said. ‘I take online classes every semester so it definitely hurts my parents’ pockets a little more than it should.’

Jason Bucher, a junior in fashion and textile management, said he does not like the idea of paying extra to take online classes.’

‘It’s unfair to everyone,’ Bucher said. ‘Especially for those who cannot attend class on campus due to other obligations.’

Miller said that he wants to solve this problem to make it more equitable and fair to the students, especially since more and more students are interested in taking online classes.’

‘It has to change, we’ve waited long enough for some action on the system level,’ Miller said. ‘If they won’t solve it at the system level we need to find a way to solve it at the campus level.’ ‘