ASG passed a set of new course fees and increases for the 2012-13 school year. The fees helped support new classes and also were used to purchase equipment for preexisting classes.

College is an expensive venture. In addition to tuition and general fees, certain classes require additional fees, which help cover additional costs and equipment needed for these classes.

Before a course can charge or increase fees, they must go through a request process with ASG and CMU’s Fee Allocation Committee. If approved by both groups, final approval must be granted by CMU Budget Director Whitney Sutton.

“It’s nice that the fees that affect the students are passed first by other students,” FAC member Michelle Dusterdick said. “Students can decide if they are reasonable or not, and how much they will actually bring to the classes and campus.”

The increase in fees support adaptive skiing/snowboarding class and a horseback riding class. In addition, music lesson course fees were increased from $165 to $175 to help purchase more instruments for classes. A $25 increase was implemented for several nursing classes to cover the rising cost of equipment and to provide a new testing service called the Kaplan program, which is required for most graduated nurses.

ASG and FAC member Charlotte Rowden said, “(They are) all good programs,” Rowden said. “We’re glad to be getting new things on campus. It’s exciting.”

Since these courses are not taken by all students, the increase will only affect a select few.

“It was cool to be able to pass these fees to offer more for the students and help bring back old classes to campus,” FAC and ASG member Whitney Neill said. “Even better was the fact that the nursing increases were requested by the students to help them with their licensing and testing.”

Ashley Sutton-Daniels contributed to this report.