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Office of the Provost

Material Fee Process

Material Fee Examples

The following examples are provided in support of University Policy 7.7.3. The list is not intended to be exhaustive but is intended to set a context for what is acceptable within the guidelines for course material fees.

Course Fees for the following are acceptable:

  1. Charges for materials, such as wood, screws, plastic, stones, metals, paints, etc. used to create a tangible product that the student retains at completion of the course, e.g., jewelry, furniture, artwork. 
  2. Nominal usage fees for instructional or laboratory equipment that are required for the specific course for which the fee is assessed. This type of equipment will NOT require an inventory tag. If an inventory tag is required, this would not be acceptable for Course Material fees.
  3. Prior to considering charges for any software, please consult the Academic Software Processs information or send your inquiry to softwarerequests@ilstu.eduto determine if the university has software licenses that could be used or purchased. If the software is not already available and considered highly specialized, material fee charges will be permissible if the software is not easily accessible elsewhere. 
  4. Charges related to required field trips, including transportation and entrance fees. Box lunches may be included in the charge if they simplify scheduling and represent student cost savings.
  5. Cost for rental of facilities outside of the course department; for example, Kinesiology and Recreation renting the high ropes course from Campus Recreation.
  6. Purchases in bulk for basic course materials ONLY if the purchase represents substantial savings to the student compared to market rates and the student would otherwise be required to provide. 

Course Fee charges for the following are not acceptable and related expenses should not occur within the course material fee accounts:

  1. Facility maintenance or renovation.
  2. Computers and laboratory furniture.
  3. Instructional or laboratory equipment requiring an inventory tag.
  4. Off the shelf software that is commonly available.
  5. Catering and reception costs.
  6. General office supplies.
  7. Cost of printing. Printing should be accommodated through the Redbird card and swipe at the machine;
  8. Conference travel and professional organization memberships for students or faculty.
  9. Payroll charges of any kind.
  10. A student’s personal expenses, such as transportation to student teach or attend a clinical, textbook purchases and elective equipment purchases.

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Projecting/Reconciling

Projecting and reviewing each material fee ensure the agency's accounts remain within University Policy 7.6.1 avoiding deficits or excesses.

  • The material fees are deposited into departmental material fee agency accounts.
  • Use Cognos Reports: Course Material fee, Agency Report and Agency All Detail Report.
  • Departments/Units should keep their own internal records.
  • Each Dept/School must be able to track expenditure to material fee course revenue in their internal records.

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Annual Review of Current Material Fees

In June/July of each calendar year, the Provost Office will send a summary list of all active course material fees and fee amounts charged to each Unit for Annual Review.

  1. The Unit will need to review the current fees being charged, sending confirmation that these fees have been reviewed by the Chair/Director and are accurate.
  2. The Unit will need to review the current rationale and object codes.

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Material Fee Voucher Form

  1. All material fee vouchers must be submitted with the material fee form.
  2. Please ensure this form is completed prior to submitting it to the Comptroller’s Office. Attach in Colleague or PaymentNet.
  3. If a voucher is submitted to the Comptroller without this form or partially completed, the Comptroller’s Office will return to the submitter for full completion.
  4. Prior to submitting the Material Fee Voucher Form, you must ensure that the expenditure reconciles with the material fee rationale.
  5. Processing steps of the form:
    1. Indicate Materials Fee (Provide Dept/Course) for all courses/accounts that are a part of this voucher.
    2. Indicate Acct # and include object codes you are using for this voucher.

    3. Total Amount of Voucher is a calculated field and should match the total in Colleague. 

    4. Be sure the expenditure(s) follows the approved material fee rationale submitted in the Kuali Materials Fee Request form.

    5. Does the account have the appropriate object codes built for this expenditure?

    6. Attach all itemized receipts attached?

    7. Provide support documentation to clearly substantiate/document the business reason for the purchase.

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Form Processing Steps: Request a "New" Material Fee or "Change" a fee

  1. Select “NEW”

  2. Has the University Curriculum Committee approved the course? If not, do not enter the request until the course has been approved.

  3. Select your academic department from the drop-down menu. Department chairs will populate.

  4. “Click to display” the table.

  5. Copy and paste the Department Abbreviation, Subject, Master Account, and Item Type, from the table.

  6. Enter the course number you wish to add (or change) as NEW.

  7. Click to hide the table. This will prevent the table from showing your final notification, which will create an extensive email. 
    For a "Change":
    Complete steps 1, 3-7, by selecting "Change" under request type.  Then Proceed with the following instructions:Type of change, current cost per student, and reason for the change.  Continue with Step 8.

  8. Enter amount of “Total Projected Expenditures” in this fashion: 
    $500 paper, $100 ink = $600  

  9. “Total Projected Revenue” is a calculated field, DO NOTHING. This field will calculate the Projected Enrollment x Cost Per Student.
  10. Projected Enrollment” is the total yearly enrollment. 
  11. “Cost per Student” is what the cost will be. Then Total Projected Revenue will calculate. 
  12. “Rationale” provides a reason for how your unit plans to use the fee.
  13. “Does the Total Projected Expenditures match the Total Projected Revenue?”
  14. Double check your request and click on the “Certification.” 
  15. Click on Submit. Yes or no?
  16. You will receive a notification email confirming the request.  

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Form Processing Steps: Request to "Delete" a Material Fee

Click on the link provided: 

  1. Select delete. 

  2. Select your academic department from the drop-down menu. Department chair will populate.

  3. Click to display the table.

  4. Copy and paste the Department Abbreviation, Subject, Master Account, and Item Type, from the table.

  5. Enter the number you wish to delete.

  6. Click to hide the table.

  7. Check the certification box.

  8. Submit.

  9. You will receive a confirmation email. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Can material fees be used for expenditures related to equipment purchases?
    Charges for instructional or laboratory equipment requiring an inventory tag are not acceptable. However, charges that do not require an inventory tag are acceptable. Please see the Office of the Comptroller Purchasing web site for the inventory tag amounts.
  2. What is the first step I should do prior to submitting my voucher?
    Ensure that the expenditure reconciles to the material fee rationale. Once you have verified the rationale matches, you will want to ensure, you have the appropriate object codes in the SharePoint site form. If your rationale does not match and/or you do not have the appropriate object code, you will need to submit a material fee “change”. See the material fee processes section for those steps.
  3. Do I need to submit the “Material Fee Form Voucher” to get my voucher approved?
    Yes, these new forms will ensure that the expenditure submitted is in compliance with the information you have submitted on the material fees SharePoint site dashboard. Unfortunately, if the expenditure is not submitted on the material fee form voucher, the Comptroller’s will return the unapproved form to the department and request that the voucher be submitted on the “material fee form” located on the Provost’s Office website.
  4. I have deleted my material fee and still have some available cash value left in the account, what do I do next?
    Please reach out to Amy Witzig(amwitzi) and let her know you have a spending plan for these dollars to be used for students in the current fiscal year. All funds will need to be expensed in the current fiscal year. Please request deletion of the account once the funds have been expensed.

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