OPINION: ST Scholastica's Tech fee

Most days after arriving on campus, I disconnect my phone from the Tower Hall Wi-Fi. I’m usually reminded I need to do this when I go to send a text, or make sure that I haven’t received any messages on Facebook marketplace, and I am unable to do so. Sure, my Apple phone still has a home button and sometimes struggles to load things, but as soon as I switch to cellular data, I’m able to send pictures to friends and listen to downloaded music again.

Complaining about the WiFi on campus is nothing new for Saint Scholastica students. At the Nov. 19 Student Government Association meeting, grievances regarding the Wi-Fi connection in Tower Hall and Kerst Apartments were addressed. But clearly the problems are ongoing, despite the IT department’s supposed work to improve the connectivity issues.

The quality of the Wi-Fi on campus has led some students, including me, to question where our large tuition is being put to use, and whether it could be better utilized to support our education. The real concern that is raised, however, is how the “technology fee” required of students is being spent. 

The Saint Scholastica website’s information on tuition and fees states that students enrolled in 16 credits will be charged $1,110 in fees during the 2025-26 academic year (or $555 per semester). According to my online payment portal, the largest portion of these fees is the “technology fee” of $250 each semester. This fee has increased over the last few years. During my first year at Scholastica (2023–24) the technology fee only totaled $155 per semester. 

The question that this raises is: if Wi-Fi connectivity issues persist across campus despite the increase in the fee, where is the money going? 

John Schottenbauer, Director of Technical Services here at CSS, explained how the technology fee is utilized. 

“We gear our spend in there [the tech fee] towards the things that students use,” said Schottenbauer.

According to him, this means that the tech fee helps fund services like our campus WiFi; the school’s Microsoft, Zoom, and Brightspace licenses; and amenities like the printers and computers on campus.

Schottenbauer was happy to share this information, but it is not available in any public capacity for students, leading some, including fourth year student Cale Prosen, to wonder about the necessity of the fee. 

“The technology fee being a required cost with little information available to students on how it's being used, makes it feel like an unfair charge that should just be part of tuition. It also isn’t made obvious to prospective students, and I think it should be made clear upfront,” said Prosen.

Learning that the fee pays for essential services that students rely on is reassuring to me. However, because it doesn’t sound like the fee fully covers any of the services it supports in full, I too, am still highly skeptical about the necessity of such a fee. Additionally, for students whose tuition is covered for the most part by scholarships, the tech fee represents an added cost that many scholarships do not cover.

A little internet research tells me that colleges and universities across the country charge all sorts of different fees, ranging from “technology” fees to “student service” fees or “athletics facility” fees, all of which are added on top of rising tuition prices that have greatly outpaced inflation over the past forty years without significantly changing or improving what students receive in return. 

I do not truly believe that the College of Saint Scholastica is defrauding students by charging fees on top of tuition, but I do think that if the administration plans on continuing to charge these fees, there should be a far greater transparency as to how the funds collected are being utilized, as well as why it is a fee placed on top of tuition.

By: Kai Donnelly