Additional charges

GVSU has been pretty consistently been labeled as one of the best value colleges in Michigan, meaning that a lot of your activities and facilities are covered by the university, so students wind up hearing a lot of "such-and-such is free" for students. That being said, there is a handful of items that have associated charges with them, so it's a good idea to know a few of them in advance.

We’ll take care of the biggest charge up front, and that’s parking. Students who want a GVSU parking pass pay $155 per semester. Keep in mind, this is not a necessary charge, since you can use the busing system to get to and from either the downtown campus or the off campus apartments, which is free. Of course, that $155 doesn’t cover your own cost of gas, insurance, buying a car, etc, etc.

After parking, extra costs practically fall off the map. Use of the climbing center is $3 for a day pass with another $2 for equipment rental, tickets for comedians or special musical guests are generally between $5 and $10, intramural sports have an initial charge (can’t think of it off the top of my head, though), and special fitness or athletic services have charges as well (like massages, personal trainers, or nutrition counseling) Use of dance and fitness classes is charged on a semester basis, $20 for mind/body classes, $25 for land/spinning classes, or $40 for all access. Students don’t have free access to the golf course, but they do get a discount; $12 for 9 holes or $18 for 18 holes (walking).

And that’s about it. Pretty much all of our additional charges can be summed up in a paragraph, I can’t think of anything else. I asked around the office, and most other activities on campus are free. Use of the pool, rec-center, turf center, computer labs, printing, guest lecture speakers, busing, internet, advising, counseling, none of these have an extra charge. Some classes in the 300 level or above have extra tuition charges for additional facilities, but these are added to your tuition, so financial aid can cover these, and while they vary from class to class, they’re never more than $20 (also, don’t forget that you have to buy your textbooks, unless you’re best friends with a publishing house). This looks like a good spot to stop, all of the dollar signs in this post are causing me to lament the current economy. If you’ve got any questions, want to know about a particular service, or think you know of a charge that I’ve missed, post it and let me know.

-Kyle