At MSU, as well as on a national level, engineering education is more expensive to deliver than education in most other disciplines. Engineering education requires the development and maintenance of modern laboratories and current technology. This results in more square feet of facility per student, higher annual capital expenditures per students for equipment, and more support personnel in the labs. Students enrolled within the College of Engineering (COE) at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman will be charged a program-wide fee with the primary goals of:

1. Helping ensure that College programs maintain quality instructional laboratories, technical infrastructure within the College, and the ability to conduct staff-intensive program assessment (required for professional accreditation).
2. Helping meet the higher cost of engineering education by augmenting existing state Program Modification funds set aside for this purpose approximately 10 years ago which has diminished due to interim budget cuts and inflation.
3. Helping to support and increase student access to advanced technology within each of the COE programs.
4. Greatly increase the College's ability to leverage private support for our programs (i.e., matching funds).

Fee Structure

Accountability

All aspects of the fee implementation are designed to be fully accountable to students, faculty, and University administrators. The following are highlights:

• All other course and lab fees within the COE will be eliminated as their associated costs are folded into the new fee. The only exceptions to this are the required Fundamentals of Engineering and CET exam fees.
• The COE web site will contain a link to a page where all projected budget items and expenditures will be summarized on a semester basis. Any interested party may examine this budget and provide comment to College administration at any time.
• No fees collected under this program will be used to enhance (increase) faculty/staff salaries. The proposed fee will only be used to cover limited but directly assignable faculty/staff time associated with accreditation. All other monies collected are used to increase the quality of engineering education facilities that directly benefit students.
• It is anticipated that a review of the budget and expenditures would be made regularly (at least annually). However, it is also anticipated that we would only seek increases in the fee every 4 years (assuming continued increases in costs not covered by creases in enrollment).

Student Program Fee Expenditures FY 2007

Student Program Fee Expenditures FY 2006

Student Feedback

A series of meetings was held prior to implementation of the Engineering Program Fee to solicit student feedback. Follow this link to view the information presented at these meetings: Engineering Program Fee Open Forums.