Fee for All: AirBNB, DoorDash, and University Fees
A buddy of mine used to decry that he had to pay a semesterly fee for parking at the university he attended. I would try to explain the constraints that states (and the market) put on tuition costs, but it was a futile effort. Long before lodging and delivery apps started ratcheting fees for dubious reasons, colleges and universities were well ahead of the curve.
Just last week I was in a college presentation to parents and, when discussing one of the major perks of community colleges, free parking was a top mention.
What to do about this?
Well the people want fees to stop, but they would also like services to remain affordable. In any chance I was “at the table” for these conversations, I had a set of guidelines for decision-makers.
Review and sunset: Bureaucracies are bad about this, but fees are hard to create and easy to keep forever. The opposite works better for students allowing organizations to be agile but also evaluative. Opportunity cost is not just a lesson for kids with an allowance. Sunset fee-driven initiatives that are outmoded — such as technology fees that started in the 90s to buy and update computer labs.
Bundle in one fee: We exhaust students when we have an itemized list of dubiously-named fees that land on a student bill. There should be one fee: the student fee. In this scenario, you don’t also sign up for parking, the rec center, and the counseling center. You get a parking pass, a student id with all access, and one fee you pay each semester that covers all services. We treat you like we’d want to be treated.
Itemize and explain somewhere: Link to a place where anyone can see the reason for the fee and an itemized budget breakdown. It should be specific (public safety vs parking lot resurfacing) AirBnb loses here because it does not cost $500 to clean an apartment. Must be transparent and reasonable.
Never charge a fee for a behavior we want: When you graduate, or pay your bill, or register on time, we should never charge or ask as student to pay a fee. Incentivize and reinforce the behavior we want to see. All students pay for graduation, even those who do not graduate. Do not put this burden on the graduates only…
Make room for premium services: By all means, charge more for premium services for students able/willing to pay. Aldi carries cheap beer but also local beer at market price. So much we can learn from Aldi.
What else?