Navigating Caldwell’s Fee Increase

Photo Creds: BioNetwork

Bethany Atwood, Staff Writer for the Powderhorn

Dual enrollment is a popular option for eligible high school students seeking to advance their college coursework. Through North Carolina’s Career and College Promise (CCP) program, these classes are made available to high schoolers looking to explore classes outside of Watauga through Caldwell Community College. With dozens of course options to choose from, many students appreciate the opportunity to experience college courses tuition-free. With classes ranging in topics from culinary arts to cybersecurity, students are able to be involved in a plethora of exciting courses.

Despite its tuition-free status, students and their families are still expected to pay a fee, which includes expenses such as a technology fee, student insurance fee, and a student activity fee. 

This year marked a change in these fees, with prices increasing. In previous years, student activity fees for the fall and spring semesters have been $35, but this year they increased to $50. 

“Our fees are set by the North Carolina General Assembly, and then our Board of Trustees at the local level. If there’s going to be any increase in fees, we have to agree to that,” said Jeff Link, the Caldwell Executive Director for Student Engagement and High School Partnerships. “We were actually looking at doing that last academic year, but because of Helene and all the issues that were going on with Helene, we didn’t feel like that was a good time to do that.”

The price increases this year had an impact on many students and families of Watauga, with returning Caldwell students experiencing this more dramatically. Although most new Caldwell students did not have a means of comparing the new fees to last year's, most were also not aware of the prices before registering.

“My brother took the same Caldwell class and we never really even talked about it in my family, but when the prices went up, my parents were kind of like, ‘Oh shoot, Liliana, you might have to pay this’,” said Liliana Lemus, 12, who is enrolled in British Literature II through Caldwell. “And so I ended up having to pay for it myself, which is probably the case for a bunch of other students, especially in low-income families.”

Lemus was not the only student who felt caught off guard by the increase in fees this year.

“I think I found out when a friend told me about it. I didn’t know anything about it before when I was signing up for the class, ” said Adria Adcock, 12, who is currently enrolled in Quantitative Literacy through Caldwell. “It probably would have made me think harder about taking a class or not, but since it’s still such a discount from the actual college class, I don’t really think it affected my decision that much.”

Despite the lack of awareness many Watauga students had when faced with this decision, the decision was made public before the change was implemented.

“Anytime our Board of Trustees make a policy change, it’s posted on websites and it’s broadcast,” said Link. “It’s just sometimes it doesn’t reach folks until they actually see it on a bill or a statement. If you’re a traditional college student taking 16 more hours, your in-state tuition is around $1,200, so putting an extra $15 to a $35 fee is not that big of a deal. When you’re a CCP student and then it goes up to $50 and then you’ve got technology fees and insurance, it does cause a little bit of sticker shock.”

Even with this new policy change, Caldwell still acknowledges the financial burden it can place on families anytime fees are increased and is doing what they can to help students and families not feel so burdened by this new increase. Caldwell wants their resources to be available to all students regardless of their economic status.

“We don’t want to put financial barriers in place for our students, so if it does become a financial barrier, talk to the transition advisors or talk to your counselors, and certainly, we can look at those on a case-by-case basis,” said Link. “That’s been one message that our president, Dr. Port, just said. We don’t want it to be a barrier. We still have to charge fees, but if it becomes a financial barrier, we’ll certainly try to work with students to see what we can do to alleviate that.”