Can departments that charge fees for services simply raise fees to offset budget reductions?
No. All planning units have been advised that cost shifting is not a viable or reasonable budgeting strategy. While cost shifting provides support for an individual unit or program, it does not bring stability to the university as a whole. This year, the university established the Internal Fee Committee, a subcommittee of the Budget Planning Council that has been charged with developing an inventory of all internally assessed fees and a standard rate development methodology that planning units will adopt. Beginning next year, the Internal Fee Committee will be responsible for reviewing all requests for internal fees. There often are reasonable justifications for assessing fees, but the committee will closely monitor the situation and ensure that departments are not shifting costs.
