TFMS Support

Requesting Fees

Fee Request Process Overview

Individual University departments enter fee requests into the TFMS. Most fees that are assessed to students should be entered into the TFMS. Refer to the Regents’ Policy on Tuition and Fees as well as the Budget Office website for further information regarding tuition and fees. If there is a question about whether a fee should be entered, please discuss the fee with Emily Larson in the Office of Budget and Finance.

Fees are routed to Resource Responsibility Center (RRC) managers for approval. RRC managers (or designees) then route the fees to the Budget Office for review. The Budget prepares the submission to the Board of Regents for their approval. After fees are approved, they are loaded into PeopleSoft.

Fee Request Timeline

Whenever possible, fees should be requested during the budgeting period that runs from January to March.

If fees are requested late, they must go through a special approval process that requires additional justification. Off-Cycle Fee Approval Requests Guidelines will be made available on the University Budget and Finance website.

This diagram shows a general timeline of the fee process. Consult your RRC Manager and/or University Budget and Finance for more concrete deadlines for a given fiscal year.

Fee Preparation Roles

Your role in the fee cycle determines the actions you can take in the TFMS.

TFMS Workflow

The TFMS Workflow process takes into account two factors: The status of a fee and the role of the user. The status tells us where the fee is in the request and approval process. The role you have in the system indicates at what status you will be handling fees.

The goal is for fees to end up with a status of “Fit for Use.”

Status Definitions

With the exception of "Archived," you may see a fee circle through the above statuses multiple times. For example, if a course is added to a fee, the status will reset to "Ready for SF-IT" and then move through the process until it is again "Fit for use." Review the "Comments" on the fee for notes about why a fee is in a particular status. Contact SFHelp@umn.edu if you have questions about why a fee is not in the "Fit for use" status.

Fee Terminology

Fees are divided into three major categories: course and class fees, term fees, and tuition.

Change Request

The change request form is a mechanism for requesting a modification to an approved fee. Once the change request is approved, it effectively replaces the old fee. TFMS always retains all versions of the fee.

Course and Class Fees

Course and Class fees are charged based on a student's enrollment in a course or section. They are based on the cost of providing materials or services for a particular course or section.

Course fees are charged to all students who take a specific course, regardless of the section number. For example, a consumable materials fee could be charged to anyone that takes the biology lab, regardless of what section they are enrolled in.

Class fees are charged to a specific section. For example, a UNITE fee may only be charged to those students that enroll in section 883.

Term Fees

Term fees are charged based on a student's academic profile. For example, students can be assessed a fee based on their academic program (college) or academic plan (major). Term fees are also based on actions a student may take, like submitting an application or renting a locker. Term fees are never based on a specific course registration. Examples of term fees include a Collegiate Fee on all College of Liberal Arts students or an Instrument Usage Fee on all Endodontics majors.

Tuition

Tuition rates are charged based on a student's academic profile. In TFMS format, they are very similar to term fees, but they have a very distinct business process for setting and approving the rates. Access to tuition rates is more limited than the other fee types. As such, you may not see the tuition fee types.

Fee Dimensions

A fee dimension helps define how and why a fee is to be charged. For example, if a term fee charges one rate during the academic year and a different rate during the summer, those two rates are considered two separate dimensions of the same fee.

Fee Dimensions on Term Fees

The reason for the fee is the same regardless of term—it is an activity fee. The dimensions provide a way to subdivide the fee to allow for differing rates. In this case, dimension one is for the fall and spring at one rate and dimension two is for the summer at a lower rate. The diagram below shows an example of a term fee with two dimensions.

Fee Dimensions on Tuition Rates

Tuition rates use a very similar logic as term fees. The same example as above applies. A separate tuition rate for summer is one example where you may see multiple dimensions. The other common example for tuition rates is a resident and non-resident dimension. It is one tuition type with two different rates. The diagram below shows an example of a tuition fee type with two dimensions.

Fee Dimensions on Course and Class Fees

In the case of course and class fees, dimensions usually refer to the different elements that make up a fee. For example, a course may charge one fee that has a dimension for transportation and another dimension for consumable materials. The student is charged the total of both dimensions. The diagram below shows an example of a course with two dimensions.

It may not always make sense to use dimensions on a course fee. In the example above, if multiple classes are charged the same Microscope Fee, you may enter that fee with all of the courses and then associate this same class with another fee. Also, if you have small costs in one category (such as a $2 usage fee), it makes more sense to combine it with the other cost (such as consumable materials) for simplicity. Dimensions are necessary subdivisions when the fee categories have different 1098-T implications, such as transportation costs and educational costs.

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