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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 March 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.

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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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Effective Dates for Material Fees

  1. Please note the semester effective dates for the material fees after approval.
  2. New/Change: The semester effective date is the date the fees will start collecting from the student.
  3. Delete: The semester effective date is the date the fee will be removed.

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