At Linfield, many classes have course fees, including in the art, science, wine and language departments. As seen on the self-service page, fees can be anywhere from 20 to 75 dollars.
In the art department, students feel that the course fees are worth it.
“All the tools and materials we work with are really nice, and if you are in an art class you get pretty much unlimited access to the studios and all of their supplies,” freshman art major Fox Kirshner said.
The supplies in question can be clay, paint, paintbrushes, sculpting materials and more.
“(Course fees) pay for some of the cool things like field trips that we do, or they’re insurance for lab supplies, like, if we pay the optional fee at the beginning of the class we won’t have to pay if we break expensive equipment,” sophomore and biology major Caroline Smith said.
Shoreline ecology, for example, involves visits to research centers to give students hands-on experience.
“The course fees for wine studies classes are used to cover the actual cost of materials that our professors use to deliver our courses,” Toni Ketrenos, professor of wine studies said. “In the case of our classes, that often means wine! It’s also used for things such as the cost we’re charged for vans and gas for field trips, lab equipment for our winemaking and viticulture classes, fees to use business case studies in class, video fees, copies and printing for handouts in class.”
Unlike other departments, very few students knew how course fees in the language departments were used.
“My opinion is that I don’t notice it,” sophomore and Spanish minor Ella Quijano said.
Spanish professor, Tania Carrasquillo explained that the language department uses course fees to pay for teaching assistance and exams.
“Remember that having three tutors (Spanish, French and Japanese) brings a very high cost, and GLCS has a limited budget. Additionally, there are courses where the students should take exams that measure their linguistic and intercultural competence,” Carrasquillo said.
According to both students and professors, Linfield’s course fees are a worthy investment.
