A plan to raise fees for business classes is raising fire among business students.

The plan includes a surcharge per credit hour on all business courses for business majors and minors, according to Rebekah Keasling, assistant dean for admission in Miami University’s Farmer School of Business (FSB).

This charge will increase by $25 per academic year. For the current school year the charge is $50 per credit hour, but will increase to $75 then $100 in the next two years, according to Keasling.

First-year Sydney Powell said she is not happy about the fee.

“That’s a lot of money when you really think about it,” Powell said. “Yes $25 to $50 seems understandable but $75 to $100 seems a bit ridiculous per credit hour when the business school is as good as it is now without overcharging its students.”

Alan Oak is the assistant dean of external relations in FSB.

“The driver for this action has to do with our ability to attract and retain top quality faculty,” Oak said. “We have to offer salaries that are in line with those available at other business schools in Ohio and beyond Ohio.”

David Creamer, vice president of Finance and Business Services, explained the benefits of the fee to students.

The funds generated by the increase in surcharge will be used specifically for business students to enhance their educational experience, Creamer said.

In addition to faculty salaries, the extra fees will provide services to students such as advising, career services, internship opportunities and international opportunities, “so students are effective leaders going forward,” Oak said.

Most business schools such as Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Toledo have a similar differential model to Miami where they charge their students a fee beyond basic tuition, according to Oak.

“We also compete against Indiana University and the University of Michigan and this program is the typical practice,” Oak said. “Our tuitions and costs are in line, even attractive relative to other programs.”

The fees are obviously larger in the business school than any of the other colleges in the university, Creamer said.

“This is driven by the higher cost of business courses,” Creamer said. “Salaries for faculty are higher. Experience students can receive is the highest we can provide.”

FSB established a $25 per credit hour fee for all business courses in 2006, according to Oak. In spring 2010, the Board of Trustees approved an increase in the premium from $25 to $50 moving to $75 and then $100 in the next two years, Oak said.

The current policy applies to all business courses and graduate courses except the professional program (PMBA) and premium tuition rate programs, Keasling said.

The fee does not apply to students taking business classes through a business workshop, internationally or in Luxembourg. It does not apply to the Miami Plan foundation courses or BLS 235, which is a Mock Trial course. It also only applies to students taking courses at the Oxford campus, according to Keasling.

Once the fee is fully implemented the annual average additional cost to students who are taking 15 credits of business classes per year would be $1,500, according to Keasling.

“This annual average can be compared to other universities,” Keasling said.

By the time the plan is fully implemented, marketing majors will pay an additional $6,900 over the course of four years without a minor. This can be found by adding the number of credit hours required within the business school from the Miami Bulletin and multiplying it by $100, which will be the final stage of the price change.

The business core alone will cost an additional $4,500 to complete the 45 required credits at $100 per credit hour. Still, the prices for classes are increasing, as scholarship awards for students remain the same.

First year Michael Vostatek said there must be other ways to get the best professors without charging students large additional fees.

“I find it unnecessary to charge only business students additional prices, on top of the already increasing tuition,” Vostatek said. “To maintain a top-tier business school, money should go to bringing in speakers, keeping classes small and increasing teacher tools that teachers have at their disposal rather than solely putting the extra money to their salary, because students of other majors aren’t paying that cost.”

Many students wonder why Miami will not be able to retain the same caliber of professors it has if it does not increase fees.

“If we have such great professors now I wonder why $25 less won’t be good enough next year to keep the same professors Miami currently has,” Powell said. “We already attend the most expensive public school in Ohio, I think it’s absurd that we have to pay additional thousands of dollars just to take business classes. I don’t think the information was clearly stated to prospective business majors that they would be paying this enormous fee to pay faculty salaries.”