By Sophie Foster
Copy Editor
Beginning in the fall 2022 semester, most courses held with labs at Washington College will now require that students pay a lab fee, according to an email sent by Interim Provost and Dean Michael Harvey on March 24.
The fee, which will be billed directly to student accounts along with tuition payments, is intended to defray the cost of materials used in these labs. The email identified biology, chemistry, environmental science, and psychology as the departments that will be impacted by this shift.
Exceptions to this rule include BIO 100: current topics in biology and BIO 328: behavioral ecology.
“We’ll have two levels of fees: $25 or $50, depending on how much a given lab uses materials, [and] at what expense,” Dr. Harvey said. “Labs without significant materials fees won’t have any lab fee at all.”
According to Dr. Harvey, the recommendation to institute a lab fee came about two years ago, when the WC Budget Task Force was given the responsibility of eliminating the College’s fiscal deficit. Their findings concluded that most of WC’s peer institutions already had similar fees in place.
Though students able to demonstrate significant financial need have the option to request aid in covering the lab expense, some students expressed concern about the implications of this decision.
“This makes majoring in science less accessible to people,” freshman Ryan Morrow said. “If lab fees were introduced this year, I’d be paying $150.”
Sophomore Joshua Torrence echoed this sentiment, pointing out that many of the courses which will now have fees are requirements for STEM majors.
“There are other ways to get money,” Torrence said. “I understand that it’s only $50 per lab, but…that adds up…especially for people who may be struggling with payments already.”
Freshman Evan Merk pointed to a lack of warning as his major concern regarding the shift.
“It’s not a gradual change — it’s immediate as of next semester, and that’s so discouraging. [It] makes me incredibly disappointed that there was no prior warning or student input originally in how this would affect STEM students,” he said.
According to Dr. Harvey, he wants to quell these anxieties. He said he believes that the possibilities of financial support the College included in this plan will allow the fee to be a fair and equitable method of allocating costs for labs exclusively on those who are actually enrolled in lab courses, rather than imposing the cost on all students regardless of involvement in said labs.
“It’s vital to ensure that lab fees aren’t a barrier to any student taking any course, and I believe our financial support will ensure access to any major, minor, or course with a lab, for any student, regardless of level of need,” he said.
Students enrolled in an affected course concerned about their ability to pay this fee should fill out the College’s Qualtrics survey, which was sent out to all students in the March 24 email, to apply for a waiver.
Photo by Kayla Thornton
Featured Photo Caption: On March 24, Washington College Interim Provost and Dean Michael Harvey announced via email that students are required to pay a lab fee for select courses from the fall 2022 semester onward.