Dollar breakdown shows use of quarterly fees

Total fees for UC Davis undergraduates from California are $5,041.12 this fall, or 15.6 percent more than last fall.

Of that total, the tuition and student services fees common to all UC undergraduates account for more than 80 percent, health insurance for 8.3 percent, and eight campus-based fees for 11.3 percent.

Aggie Family Pack breaks down the fall 2011 fees and shows you how they are used.

Tuition: $3,740. This regents fee — uniform at all UC campuses — provides support for the universitywide operating budget and financial aid. Two-thirds is allocated to campuses as general funds, and the remaining third of the fee goes to financial aid.

Student Services Fee: $324. This UC fee provides nonacademic services and activities for students, including counseling and advising services, health and wellness services, tutoring and student information systems.

Health Insurance: $421. UC undergraduates are required to pay this fee unless they are able to provide comparable coverage under another plan.

Campus Expansion Initiative: $177.01. UC Davis students passed a referendum to levy this fee, beginning in 2003, for:

• grants-in-aid for student-athletes, required for participation in Division I competition of the National Collegiate Athletic Association;
• the construction and maintenance of the new Student Community Center, set to open next spring, and the Student Health and Wellness Center, which opened in 2010;
• the recent expansion of the Coffee House;
• improvements to the Unitrans bus service;
• sports clubs and intramural sports; and
• financial aid.

Facilities and Campus Enhancement Fees: $134.83. This student-approved fee, effective beginning in 1999, is paying for the construction loan repayment and maintenance of the Activities and Recreation Center (opened in 2004), the Schaal Aquatics Center (2004), and Aggie Stadium (2007); improvements to the Equestrian Center and other recreation programs; student recruitment and retention efforts; and financial aid.

Student Services Maintenance Fee and Student Activities and Services Initiative Fee: $108.78. These student-approved fees, established in 1994, help pay for Intercollegiate Athletics, intramural sports and sports clubs, recreation programs, the Equestrian Center, the Cross Cultural Center, and the Women’s Resources and Research Center.

Student Health Services Fee: $44. This fee, established in 1997 by a student referendum, provide operating budget support to the Student Health and Wellness Center.

ASUCD Fee: $35. This fee, which came to be in 1934 as the result of a student referendum, provides support for the Unitrans bus service and the Associated Students of UC Davis, which represents undergraduates.

Memorial Union Fee: $28.50. This fee, established in 1957 by a student referendum, funds improvements to the Memorial Union building, which houses the Coffee House and a host of student programs.

Student Facilities Safety Fee: $22. This fee pays for the debt service for seismic renovations to three buildings and for life safety improvements in student service facilities.

Unitrans: $6. This fee, passed in a student referendum and established in 2007, provides operating budget support for the bus service and financial aid.