TO THE EDITOR:
I was awarded the 2013 State Department Critical Language Scholarship for Persian Farsi, a fully-funded study abroad scholarship administered by the U.S. State Department and not UNC’s Study Abroad Office.
In order to have this study abroad experience count as my Experiential Education credit here at UNC, I submitted the necessary retroactive petition documents to the study abroad office, including a $50 application fee.
To my surprise, if my petition is approved, I will also have to submit a $150 administration fee and $556 to have the EE credit applied to my UNC student transcript. I was not informed of this fee by the Study Abroad Office in February when I informed them of my decision to accept the CLS award, and there is no information regarding any fee other than the $50 application fee on the study abroad retroactive petitions webpage.
These gratuitous fees imposed by the UNC Study Abroad Office will only discourage students from accepting outside scholarships or awards and seemingly serve no purpose other than lining the pockets of the university.
It seems that I am being punished in a sense for not studying abroad through the UNC Study Abroad Office and instead accepting a coveted State Department award.
I’ve met with the assistant dean of students to discuss why these fees are necessary, only to be told that it is “University policy.”
With the costs of tuition rising, such gratuitous fees will also only rise in the future and further deter students from seeking outside scholarships and awards, but do such policies really serve the best interests of the University?
It seems insane to impose fees on students for accepting scholarships, yet this is “university policy.” At what point will the UNC system decide that they have sucked enough money out of their students?
