Graphic by Sarah Hardison
endowment graphic
Within the university’s $88 million in revenue from student fees, there are fees that are accumulated by College of Engineering students that total $1,500 per student and go toward programs that create engineering-specific opportunities.
The COE Program Enhancement Fee is necessary for making NC State a top-tier engineering school, according to the dean of the College of Engineering, Louis Martin-Vega.
Martin-Vega clarified that the fee is significantly more affordable than what is demanded from students at other esteemed engineering schools.
“There’s what you get in the classroom, and then there’s all the other things that you can get across the university in terms of study abroad, internships, co-ops, research in labs and things like that.” Martin-Vega said. “But we also saw that some of our peer institutions had fees that we didn’t want to go there. If you’re an engineering student at the University of Illinois, in addition to paying an in-state tuition that is probably two and a half [times] higher than ours, you’re going to pay a $6,000 fee. We’re not going to go there either.”
Martin-Vega added that NC State compares their engineering school to other top engineering schools such as Purdue, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and Penn State.
Martin-Vega also said that the fee does go back to the students through research jobs on campus and provides a better post-graduate job outlook.
Sam Brohaugh, a third-year studying civil engineering and Student Government senator, said he used to criticize the fee until he knew the reasoning behind it.
“As a student who didn’t fully understand the fee, it was more something I was concerned about paying,” Brohaugh said. “I don’t want to pay a fee that I don’t really understand where it goes towards or what it’s used for, anything like that. But after [Martin-Vega explained] that that’s what pays for the research opportunities, the high-impact experiences that really set our engineering program apart from others — those additional experiences outside of class are really what separates the okay engineering programs from the excellent programs that employers are really striving to hire students for.”
However, Brohaugh said there needs to be more transparency about the fee and that students need to know how to take advantage of the benefits the fee provides.
“One of my goals as a senator in the College of Engineering is to continue to work closely with the dean’s office to make this issue transparent and accessible to students,” Brohaugh said. “A lot of the research opportunities and internships provided by the College of Engineering work to make sure that every engineering student has equal opportunity to enhance their experience here at the College of Engineering.”
The College of Engineering’s webpage answers common questions about the fee and explains where the funds are allocated. In addition, Student Government hosted a budget town hall with Mike Mullen, vice chancellor and dean of academic and student affairs, and other faculty members to answer questions and concerns about the fee. Martin-Vega agreed that he wanted to help students take advantage of the opportunities the fee allows.
“We try to be responsive, and we’ve made ourselves available to meetings with student organizations,” Martin-Vega said. “The bottom line is that we’re open. I’ve told [Student Government], ‘Invite us anytime.’ We will certainly accommodate our time to be there.”
While the fee went into effect in fall 2015, Martin-Vega said that he has not seen a decrease in enrollment in the engineering program, and that it does not seem to deter students from attending NC State for engineering.
“We’re very proud of where this college is,” Martin-Vega said. “We are the 12th highest-ranked public college of engineering in the country … We’re proud of that, but the reason we’re proud of it is we think it provides our students a tremendous advantage.”