While tuition mainly covers classroom instruction costs and most support services costs, many student supporting resources fall outside of conventional teaching costs. New student fees allow these student supporting service increases, cost components, and budget gaps to be funded clearly and sustainably without aggregating all cost increases into base tuition.
The Student Service Fee is a comprehensive fee to help fund essential resources to directly support students inside and outside the classroom, including:
- Student activities and support programs
- Technology platforms and learning management systems
- Campus facilities upkeep and maintenance
- Campus safety and security services
- Other student support services
Laboratory‑based and clinical-based courses cost more to deliver than lecture‑based courses. This fee helps fund both the costs of instructional lab activities as well as the clinical learning environment including:
- Specialized equipment and materials
- Safety and compliance requirements
- Equipment upkeep, diagnostic materials and instructional supplies
- Other resources required to deliver hands-on learning experiences
This ensures labs and clinical learning environments remain safe, current, and educationally effective.
The DO Program Support Fee helps fund essential resources and services that directly support the delivery of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) curriculum in an advanced clinical and academic setting, including clinical rotations. In today’s environment, tuition alone rarely covers the full cost of delivering clinically intensive education. This includes clinical education components required for medical training at clinical rotation sites, and laboratory-based facilities.
The fee supports program‑specific needs such as:
- Clinical education coordination and oversight
- Clinical rotations and laboratory-based coursework supplies, and simulation lab maintenance
- Resources required to deliver hands‑on, clinical, and experiential learning such as specialized equipment, materials, compliance, and equipment upkeep
- Other essential resources to support hands-on learning experiences
These elements are essential to maintaining a high‑quality medical education experience.
Yes. The DO Program Support Fee supports services and resources that are integral to the curriculum and clinical training experiences shared by DO students throughout the program.
Including all costs in tuition would require larger tuition increases and reduce tuition transparency. Student fees allow the University to clearly show how specific services are funded.
No. The University continues to invest significantly in academic programs and student support. These fees help ensure that essential services can be maintained and strengthened while keeping tuition increases as moderate as possible.
The University conducts an annual review that considers operating costs, capital costs, deferred maintenance costs, technology costs, insurance costs, faculty and staff costs, and curriculum delivery costs, accreditation and regulatory requirements, and a market analysis of peer institutions. Affordability, student impact, and financial aid commitments are carefully evaluated as part of this process. Tuition adjustments are not automatic and are considered only when necessary to support educational quality and institutional sustainability.
All fees are reviewed not less than annually. Any changes are assessed responsibly and implemented only as needed to sustain required services, ensure educational quality, steward financial sustainability, and comply with institutional and accreditation standards.