Definition and Examples

Course fees:

Fees charged to students to fund specific enhanced educational experiences essential to achieving learning outcomes, beyond standard course provision. These may cover:

• Costs incurred during the current semester, or
• Larger investments for specific classroom use, which enhance the course and benefit students over multiple years.

Variable course fees:

Fees that differ across sections of the same course within a term due to materially different costs (most commonly travel-related). In rare cases, other unique instructional circumstances may justify variable fees.

Examples of costs that are permitted as course fees:

• Instructional materials and supplies: Items costing less than $5,000 per unit (e.g., lab supplies, teaching aids.)
• Required travel and participation costs: Costs for required off-campus activities, including instructor travel and admission when accompanying students
• Specialized instructional support: Stipends for non-university personnel providing instruction beyond standard offerings (e.g., cooperating teachers hosting student teachers)
• Non-Capitalizable Equipment (short-term use): Amortized replacement costs for non-capitalizable equipment, used specifically for the course.
• Equipment maintenance: Maintenance of instructional equipment used for a specific course.
• Equipment rental: e.g. athletic equipment used in a kinesiology course.
• Facility rental: Rental of facilities necessary for instruction beyond standard university resources

Examples of costs that are not permitted as course fees:

• Off-campus course delivery
• General purpose computers
• Guest speakers or presenters
• Hospitality or non-instructional expenses
• Space, infrastructure, or capital improvements: e.g., building upgrades, maintenance
• Routine instructional materials: e.g. syllabi, course outlines, exams, and handouts
• Salaries or wages for faculty, staff, student employees, or graduate assistants (exception: individual music instruction)
• Supplemental reading materials: If a department does not wish to cover these costs, and the students are to retain ownership, the materials must be sold to students through the university bookstore or other local distributors. This procedure simplifies the financial transaction and helps to avoid possible copyright infringement.
• Transportation to sites related to student teaching, clinicals, or similar activities: This is considered a personal expense.

Publication Of Course Fees

Course fees are published in the schedule of courses on MyUI. When a student enrolls in a course with a course fee, the student’s tuition and fee assessment summary will include the fee. The public can view a list of approved course fees for the current session. 

Authorization Procedure

New course fees must be submitted using the MAUI Course Fee Request Form by the submission deadlines, and include a line-item budget and revenue estimates based on enrollment projections.

Requests to modify existing fees are submitted via the same process, and must also include an explanation of any account surplus or deficit

Course fee requests are reviewed and approved via workflow by the Department Executive Officer, Collegiate Business Officer, and Associate Dean for Academics.

Following collegiate approval, the fees are reviewed by the University Registrar, whom summarizes the fees and recommends the fees for approval to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Associate Vice President for Operations and Decision Support (delegate for Executive Vice President and Provost), and Assistant Vice President for Treasury Operations, Billing Services, and Budget Planning (delegate for Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations).

Deadlines for submitting a new course fee or modifying an existing course fee are:

• For summer session and fall semester – Feb. 1
• For spring semester – Oct. 1

Accountability Of Course Fees

Revenue and expenses for each unique course fee must be separately accounted for with a unique account (who key level) and unique MAUI billing charge type.

Annual Review

Course fee balances must be reviewed annually by the collegiate business officer or their delegate. The collegiate business officer is responsible for compliance.

• Account Surplus: If the account balance exceeds 20% of annual revenue, units should consider reducing the fee.

  If a course is not offered for two consecutive semesters and the fee is discontinued, remaining balances may be transferred to a central collegiate account to support courses where fees do not fully cover consumable costs or to fund broader student-focused initiatives..

• Account Deficit: If the account deficit exceeds 20% of annual revenue, units should consider increasing the fee, or identify alternative funding sources. Any accumulated deficit is the responsibility of the college or department.

  If the account is in deficit (by more than 20% of annual revenue), units should consider whether the fee should be increased or whether there are other funding sources that should be used to fund the activity. Accumulated deficits are the responsibility of the college/department.

Last updated 8/26/26