Buyer Beware: Fees Skyrocket Cost Of Higher Education

College tuition has been rising steadily for decades, with the Education Data Initiative reporting that the average cost of tuition and fees has increased by 179% over the past 20 years.

In response to growing financial pressures on students and their families, many institutions and university systems have moved to cap tuition, often supported by state funding or legal mandates. However, like a good magician, universities use the concept of “frozen tuition” as a form of misdirection to what is really happening. Burgeoning fees have become the new version of a tuition increase.

Similar to banks that charge customers for using out-of-network ATMs or airlines that impose fees for seat selection, colleges impose various fees that further strain students’ finances. These fees may include application fees, athletics fees, technology fees, and student activity fees. Some institutions even charge for being a first-year student, an international student, or for graduating. Moreover, unlike choosing to sit at the back of the plane to save money, university fees are often mandated.

These so-called “college inconvenience fees” add up quickly, often without clear explanations of what they cover or which students or departments benefit. These costs should be embedded within the overall tuition, not as extra burdens placed on students. Eliminating them should be a priority in discussions around college affordability, accountability, and transparency.

Unlike tuition, which is typically subject to a more standardized and scrutinized process at both private and public institutions, fees are often determined with minimal oversight and can vary greatly between schools. Fees cover a wide range of services but frequently appear arbitrary. It’s not uncommon for departments to add additional fees such as lab usage or equipment usage fees. They’ve become a convenient way to supplement departmental budgets, and while that may explain their existence, it doesn’t justify the lack of transparency.

In many cases, enacting a fee is one of the few ways departments can generate additional revenue. The approval process for fees is much less complex than raising tuition, and the decentralized nature of how these fees are applied makes it difficult to immediately grasp the true cost to students.

While not every institution benefits from a large endowment, and more public investment in higher education is urgently needed, colleges could do more to alleviate this burden on students by better managing their finances. Instead of imposing arbitrary fees, institutions should allocate existing tuition dollars to fund the necessary departments and services. This approach would also distribute resources more equitably across the student body.

There are alternatives to raising funds for specific needs—like athletics facilities—that don’t require blanket fees on all students, including those who don’t participate in athletics. At the very least, fees should be put through the mission-critical filter. In addition, fees that apply to all students should be differentiated with fees for services available to only a subgroup of students. Another check on fees is to verify that if tuition is indeed “frozen,” then so should the fees. And if a fee is truly essential to the academic mission or institutional operations, most times it should be included in the tuition cost rather than treated as an additional charge.

The recent challenges with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) underscored the importance of clarity in educational costs. Thousands of students did not attend college in 2024-25 simply because they didn’t receive timely information about whether the cost aligned with the potential benefits. This highlights the critical importance of transparency as students and families look to understand whether college is an option based on cost. A few hundred dollars in unexpected fees can be the difference between persistence and needing to stop out.

Simplifying the cost structure by eliminating fees will help students and families better understand the true cost of attendance. By relying on tuition to cover essential services and resources, institutions ensure that all students benefit from what they are paying. It’s time to eliminate these “college inconvenience fees” and bring greater transparency and fairness to higher education costs.

This article was written by Nicholas Ladany and originally published on Forbes.