A person well aware of my reservations about rising college costs and my skepticism over Georgia Southern’s pending move to college football’s top level approached me over the weekend with this question.

“Can you believe the students voted in favor of those new fees?”

Well, yes, I can believe it. Truth is I had no doubt the fees for a stadium expansion and to support the move to Division I-A (or FBS, whichever term you prefer) would pass.

Remember, few students write the check for their college expenses every semester. Either mom and dad do or Sallie Mae or other college loan servicer does. So what do students care? Of course it passed.

Still, the extra $100 in fees per semester at a time when tuition and fees have skyrocketed irks me. My kids are elementary school age, so I’m not writing a check for that money. But I’m worried about the cost trend line, and these fees have it trending up.

The vote did spark me to do a little Google research. I looked up the fees for Georgia Southern and the other three legitimate I-A football schools in the state (sorry SSU, you don’t qualify yet).

The interesting thing is Georgia Southern’s total fees remain the lowest among its peers (UGA, Tech, Georgia State). That stat deserves an asterisk, though, as Southern’s institutional fee, enacted in recent years to cover the gap between instruction costs and state budget/tuition revenue, is 25 percent less than the other three (largely because salaries are lower due to the lower cost of living in Statesboro).

Southern’s athletic fee remains below Georgia State’s even with the added $100 (although State’s is that high because the school started football from scratch a few years back). Southern’s athletic fee is more than UGA’s and Tech’s, but then those schools’ athletic programs generate significant revenue (I have to wonder why those schools have an athletics fee at all given the benefits they reap from TV deals alone. But I digress).

The fees for the various schools are listed below, and I’ll be curious to see if it gives you all the same headache it did me. Most of the fees sound legitimate – every school has fees for activities, campus transit, health care and technology improvements – but there doesn’t seem to a be much consistency. Give your feedback on the fees in the comments section below.

Georgia Southern fees (per semester)

Athletics: $154 (not including new fees)

Student activities: $101

Health: $94

Transit: $55

Technology: $100

Recreation center: $142

Institution fee: $290*

TOTAL: $936

{Students approved $100 in athletic fees last week as well as a $10 sustainability fee)

Georgia State fees (per semester)

Athletics: $263

Student activities/recreation: $145

Health: $35

Transit: $48

Technology: $85

Student center: $36

Library: $35

Institution fee: $404*

TOTAL: $1,049

University of Georgia (per semester)

Athletics: $53

Student activities/recreation: $92

Health: $191

Transit: $106

Technology: $120

Student center: $80

Green sustainability: $3

Institution fee: $450*

TOTAL: $1,095

Georgia Tech fees (per semester)

Athletics: $127

Student activities/recreation: $123

Health: $154

Transit: $81

Technology: $107

Rec center: $54

Institution fee: $544*

TOTAL: $1,190

* The institutional fee goes into the institutions’ general funds to help offset the gap between the cost of instruction and what the state can budget and tuition doesn’t cover. The fee helps to fund the operation off libraries, faculty salaries and for staff for student advising and support.

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