If you take a look at your my.SDSU Financial Account and click on the charges, you will notice several fees listed there. What you can’t click on is what exactly the fees are funding.
Some fees aren’t too costly, sitting at $25-$35 per semester, according to a breakdown from the University Bursar’s Office. These include the Library Services Fee, the Health Facility Fee and the Student Body Association Fee. Some of them, however, are well over $200, with the Student Body Center Fee being the most expensive at $472.
For full-time undergraduate students enrolled in the spring 2025 semester, these universally-applied fees add up to $1,322, according to a subtotal from the University Bursar’s Office. This figure does not include the extra $1,000 fee for out-of-state and international students.
When considering that many students must also pay for textbooks, access to class materials and even printing, it’s a wonder where the tuition money goes.
Whether a student pays for their own tuition or not, most have no idea where the money goes. San Diego State University needs to be transparent about where these fees go and needs to create an open line of communication about their implementation to alleviate student distrust.
The Health & Wellness Fee, which is $235 for the spring 2025 semester, is allocated to the Calpulli Center: the on-campus medical clinic that provides student health services, counseling services and student disability services, according to SDSU’s Well-Being & Health Promotion website.
However, most of the fee is not directed towards resource and service improvements, with 88% of the funds allocated towards staff salaries and benefits and 4% of the fee dedicated to supplies and services, according to the University Bursar’s Office.
Information about the fees can be found through an Internet search- if you know what to search for. SDSU’s University Bursar’s Office describes what these fees are and provides some information about cost breakdown.
Five out of the eight fees supply distribution data. Debt service is a prime beneficiary of the funds, with 59% of the Health Facility Fee and 50% of the Student Body Center Fee being allotted to debt.
The debt in question is a result of the construction and management of popular facilities such as Viejas Arena and the Aztec Recreation Center, according to the University Bursar’s Office. The money for debt, however, does not include the ongoing maintenance and repair of these buildings.
The existence of the fees alone sows cynicism among students, who are always on the lookout for what’s being charged next. The cynicism is validated further when looking at how the university chooses to communicate financial information.
Not only do the fee definitions take some digging to find, but some of them are misleading in their names or descriptions.
The Instructionally Related Activity Fee is described by the University Bursar’s Office as “…enriching student life and learning and are considered to be essential to a quality educational program and an important instructional experience for enrolled students. The fee also provides funding and support for the intercollegiate athletics program and the academic success centers to address graduation and achievement gaps.”
What is a bit more hidden is the fact that 76% of this fee is allocated to athletics, and only 13% is sourced to academic success centers.
Similarly, the Student Success Fee is “designed to enhance the quality of academic programs and the student experience on a given campus,” according to Supplemental Services.
10% of the fee, described as “a portion,” goes towards expanding Academic Related Programs (ARPs), which exist to extend the learning done in classrooms. The website has lots of information surrounding how students can receive funding for their ARP and take advantage of Student Success Fee writing workshops.
However, 90% of the fee, described as “the remaining portion,” simply states that it goes towards increasing tenure positions. The site does not provide any additional information, links or how increasing tenure-track faculty lines will improve student experience.
Most of the fees are mandatory and cannot be opted out of. The only exception to this is the Student Involvement Representative Fee. The voluntary fee allocates $2 per student to the California State Student Association.
SDSU shows their students no mercy when it comes to these fees, continuing to disguise them as academic enhancers. Students deserve to know where their money goes- especially when they have no choice but to give it up.
