# Title 15 — Education

## Chapter 15-10.3 — Student Fees

### § 15-10.3-01. Definitions.

For purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Fee" means any monetary charge, other than tuition, that a student is assessed for a
specific purpose or supplemental service.
2. "Tuition" means the monetary charge that a student is assessed in order to be enrolled
in a class or program for which a student generally earns academic credit.
### § 15-10.3-02. Mandatory fees - Fees for optional purposes or services - Publication for

comparison purposes.
The state board of higher education shall publish on its website in a clear and
comprehensible form that allows for ease of comparison among all institutions under its control:
1. The amount of mandatory fees that each institution has determined it shall assess
each full-time and part-time student during the ensuing academic year, together with a
breakdown of the fees by purpose or service;
2. The amount of any program-specific fees that each institution has determined it shall
assess each student in a particular program during the ensuing academic year; and
3. The amount of fees for optional purposes or services that each institution has
determined it may assess a full-time or a part-time student during the ensuing
academic year, together with a breakdown of the fees by purpose or service.
### § 15-10.3-03. Mandatory fees - Limitation on increases - Exemption.

1. The total amount of mandatory fees, other than program-specific fees, which an
institution under the control of the state board of higher education assesses each
full-time and part-time student, may not increase from one academic year to the
ensuing academic year by more than one percent of the latest available average
full-time, resident, on-campus, undergraduate tuition rate at that institution, unless the
state board determines that an exemption from the requirements of this section is
necessitated as a result of student demand, as evidenced by a campuswide student
election or formal action by an institution's student governing board or committee.
2. a. Before mandatory fees on students may be increased to support the construction
or renovation of a campus building valued at more than one million dollars, the
use must be approved by a majority of the students voting on the question at a
campuswide election.
b. This subsection does not apply to any construction or renovation for which the
use of mandatory fees was authorized before July 1, 2013.
### § 15-10.3-04. Mandatory fee increases - Criteria - Explanation.

1. Before the state board of higher education may approve an institution's request to
increase a mandatory fee, other than a program-specific fee, the institution shall
provide to the board the following information:
a. The estimated revenue collection to be generated by the proposed fee increase;
b. The specific purpose to which the generated revenue will be allocated;
c. Other anticipated tuition and fee increases;
d. A delineation of fee increases during the preceding five-year period and the
revenues collected as a result of each increase;
e. The extent to which students were allowed to participate in the decisionmaking
process that preceded and resulted in the request for a fee increase; and
f. The approximate number of students that would be assessed the fee each year.
2. The board shall examine the information provided by the requesting institution and
shall support its decision to grant or deny a request for a mandatory fee increase with
specific reference to each piece of information required by this section.
