The Graduate School has implemented a new, mandatory activity fee of $60 per quarter ($240 for 4 quarters) beginning winter quarter 2007 to support new services for full-time students of The Graduate School.  The services that became available January 3, 2007 include:

• U-Pass (a special fare card to be used on all Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) transportation (the El system and Pace buses) for all full-time “resident” students in The Graduate School)
• Legal services from an attorney to assist with issues such as landlord issues, credit and debt problems, traffic violations
• Community building activities and professional development opportunities that will include events such as the “TGS Night Out”

Final approval for the fee and attendant services was received late fall quarter 2006 from the Provost, the Office of General Counsel, and CTA.  The specific services covered by the activity fee were discussed in detail with the Graduate Leadership Council (GLC), who enthusiastically endorsed the fee and the services it will provide at the Board of Trustee Student Affairs Committee Meeting December 1, 2006.  To be clear, $56 of the $60 activity fee funds the U-Pass.  The GLC surveys of students the last two years demonstrated that the majority of students would favor, and would pay for, access to the U-Pass as well as legal services.  See 2006 GLC report  for more details http://gradconnections.northwestern.edu/images/GLC2006Final.pdf.  A benchmarking study was done which showed that many of Northwestern’s peer institutions, such as Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Cornell, University of Chicago and MIT also have activity fees charged to  their graduate students for the purpose of providing additional services such as those mentioned here.

Billing

The $60 activity fee will be posted to your tuition and fee account quarterly based on your enrollment status.  Please refer to your CAESAR account at http://www.northwestern.edu/caesar/ to review the billing details.  Students are responsible for paying the fee themselves on Caesar; as of yet there is no option for having the fee deducted from students' stipends.  Note: this fee is not an allowable expense on sponsored projects.

Students enrolled in 512 (continuous registration), 513, 514, 506, 507, 508 and those with other less-than-full-time registration will not be charged the activity fee and are NOT eligible for the activities described in this announcement.  

In order to pay on-line you would need to sign up for Ebill. If you wish to do this, I suggest you speak with someone in the Office of Student Accounts, 555 Clark (on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Clark Street).

If you wish to pay via check, you can contact the Office of Student Accounts for the appropriate address. http://www.northwestern.edu/sfs/osa/evancamp/contact.html.

In certain instances, waivers will be granted.

Please direct all questions regarding the mandatory fee and any of the services provided by it to Penny Warren, Assistant Dean of Student Life and Multicultural Affairs at The Graduate School, telephone, 847-491-8507 or by e-mail at p-warren@northwestern.edu.