TU issues partial refund of fees

By: Grace Coughlan, Associate Editor
Photo by Brendan Felch/ The Towerlight
Illustration by Meghan Hudson/ The Towerlight

Towson University announced it will refund 10% of all mandatory fees in a campus-wide email on Sept. 11.

“We’ve previously announced refunds for housing, dining, and parking charges,” the email read, “In addition, Towson University will reduce mandatory fees by 10 percent for the fall term.”

At the request of SGA, the University decided that all mandatory fees will be partially refunded except for the technology fee. 

The amount of reduction will vary with each student, depending on enrollment status. 

“Fee charges are determined by the student’s full or part-time status and enrollment in an undergraduate or graduate program,” the email explained. 

“I honestly feel that the fees should have been fully refunded. Especially with the state of the world making everyone’s financial situation harder, the university could’ve led the way in compassion and set an example for other USM schools by fully refunding the fees,” said Kaitlin Marks. “To be quite honest, 10% feels like it’s meant to smooth things over with an upset student body, but it’s not enough by a long shot.” 

According to the University, full-time undergraduate students should expect a full reduction of $151.10. Part-time undergraduate students and graduate students should expect their reduction to be measured per unit. Part-time undergraduate students reduction is $13.80 per unit and graduate students is $13.70 per unit. 

“This is in addition to the previous tuition, fee, housing, dining and parking rate freeze which lowered the cost to attend TU for all students,” the email read. “The freeze resulted in $1,015 in savings for in-state undergraduate students and $1,931 in savings for out-of-state undergraduate students.” 

Before being sent to the state for processing, the reduction adjustments will be made available for students to view through Towson Online Services. The adjustments will be titled COVID-19. 

Hey Towson, a 10% reduction in mandatory fees only makes sense if we were getting 90% of the services those fees cover,” tweeted Jenn Widmayer (@JennTheHenn77). “Guess what, we’re getting none. We wanted a full refund on the services we aren’t receiving @TowsonU

“Any adjustments to charges funded by federal aid will be returned to the aid source, as required by law,” the email stated. “Any outstanding charges on the student’s account will be deducted from the adjustment in order to determine the refund amount.” 

Students should expect to start seeing refunds by the end of Sept., but all students will receive their refund by Oct

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