Fees, fees, and more fees

One thing that I really can not stand is the outrageous fees that colleges require students to pay. For example, just going over my fees from this semester alone can show why I feel this way. I had to pay an activity fee that was $89, an athletic fee that was $132, a health fee that was $79, RAC and expansion fees that were $134, a technology fee that was $57, and a transit fee that was $35. First off, I do not know what the activity fee is for. Why should I pay an athletic fee when I do not play any sport? I have never gone to the health center, and from the stories I have heard I never will. I rarely use the RAC. I understand the technology fee, but I have never even ridden on one of the transit buses. Not to mention the high cost of books. My books this semester totaled $369.05! In previous semesters my books have cost up to $500! Then at the end of the semester, I sell my books back and get about $50, and that is if I am lucky. All together, that is a total of $895.05 just for fees! This is ridiculous and I think something needs to be done because these fees are what keep a lot of kids from being able to attend college.

There was an article recently in the Atlanta-Journal talking about how Georgia Southern has the highest fees in all of Georgia! We are paying more than UGA and Tech! What is that about? If someone would have asked me what school I thought had the highest fees, I never would have guessed Georgia Southern!

Tuition is expensive all by itself. Are all these fees really necessary?? What about the students who have to pay for school by working at their minimum wage job? Does the university system not think about these things? Ever since I started school, the fees are the one thing that have always gotten under my skin. You don't even want to get me started on textbook prices. Some students are forced to pick and choose between their books because they can not afford to buy all the books they are required to have! All I'm saying is spending over $100 on 1 book and then returning it for $20 should be a crime!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30151-2004Sep17.html
http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.com/textbooks.asp?id2=14226
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22335,filter.all/pub_detail.asp