It seems like the fees never stop, doesn’t it? Once you pay one, a new one crops up.
Cities are instituting fees for more services. Colleges are charging for things that had been free for years. And don’t even get me started on high school and middle school. Try walking your son or daughter out of a public high school for less than $250 when you leave registration.
Years ago, you went to school, played sports, engaged in extracurricular activities for free. Your taxes paid for it. There were no hidden charges, no silent auctions to raise funds to support certain causes, and no extra fees owed just so you could participate in band or the science club.
Now your kid brings his or her own Kleenex to school and if they run out, I’m sure there’s a fee you can pay to get a new package of tissue. Or maybe students could deal with a good nose blow the old fashioned way – by getting some paper towels or toilet paper from the rest room and using that. We can’t let that happen in our ultra-sanitized world though. In fact, parents would probably be charged some fee to ensure each child had a hand dispenser of sanitizer. Oh wait, you mean that already is the case?
A close friend and coworker recently ranted about college fees she is paying for her son. The one that drew her ire was a library fee: “He has probably never set foot in the library,” she said both humorously and angrily.
Then there is the page of college activity fees you get at state universities, which both she and another good friend can attest are out of control and a way to hide the full cost of what it takes to you’re your teenager to college. One friend pulled his sheet of paper out a few years back when I was visiting him. He started reading them off, one by one.
I’m confident it included some of the following: Cleanup service for your dorm room; intramural fees; parking; special lab or research usage; Internet services. In fact, who would be surprised to see a fee for using the sidewalk or bike path.
Then there are the medical fees. Even if you have insurance, and the college provides insurance on top of that, there are extra fees to get certain types of coverage. Sign me up.
Schools are not the only place where the hidden costs are emerging and nickel and diming us to death. Airlines are probably the most visible example that demonstrates how difficult it is to get a straight rate that covers everything you want. “Just add it all together and give me the full price. Don’t low ball me, then add on, and add on, and add on extra costs.”
A friend of mine was to fly a year ago from Ann Arbor, MI to Dallas. He got a straight rate and a low ball. The straight rate was, let’s say, about $460; the low ball was something like $190. He was pumped when he emailed me to get the lower rate.
Then he started looking more closely at the airline touting its $190 low rate. Carry-on bags added costs; how much you weighed cost extra; if you sat in the first 30 rows, that took more out of your wallet; if you needed a haircut, they charged you an extra $25; and if you were taller than 6’0”, it was another $40. All told, the fees brought this cost to $460. It was a stalemate.
Ban the fees. Give it to us straight. So the next time you have to use a hospital, that $40 bandaid isn’t a surprise.
Cities are instituting fees for more services. Colleges are charging for things that had been free for years. And don’t even get me started on high school and middle school. Try walking your son or daughter out of a public high school for less than $250 when you leave registration.
Years ago, you went to school, played sports, engaged in extracurricular activities for free. Your taxes paid for it. There were no hidden charges, no silent auctions to raise funds to support certain causes, and no extra fees owed just so you could participate in band or the science club.
Now your kid brings his or her own Kleenex to school and if they run out, I’m sure there’s a fee you can pay to get a new package of tissue. Or maybe students could deal with a good nose blow the old fashioned way – by getting some paper towels or toilet paper from the rest room and using that. We can’t let that happen in our ultra-sanitized world though. In fact, parents would probably be charged some fee to ensure each child had a hand dispenser of sanitizer. Oh wait, you mean that already is the case?
A close friend and coworker recently ranted about college fees she is paying for her son. The one that drew her ire was a library fee: “He has probably never set foot in the library,” she said both humorously and angrily.
Then there is the page of college activity fees you get at state universities, which both she and another good friend can attest are out of control and a way to hide the full cost of what it takes to you’re your teenager to college. One friend pulled his sheet of paper out a few years back when I was visiting him. He started reading them off, one by one.
I’m confident it included some of the following: Cleanup service for your dorm room; intramural fees; parking; special lab or research usage; Internet services. In fact, who would be surprised to see a fee for using the sidewalk or bike path.
Then there are the medical fees. Even if you have insurance, and the college provides insurance on top of that, there are extra fees to get certain types of coverage. Sign me up.
Schools are not the only place where the hidden costs are emerging and nickel and diming us to death. Airlines are probably the most visible example that demonstrates how difficult it is to get a straight rate that covers everything you want. “Just add it all together and give me the full price. Don’t low ball me, then add on, and add on, and add on extra costs.”
A friend of mine was to fly a year ago from Ann Arbor, MI to Dallas. He got a straight rate and a low ball. The straight rate was, let’s say, about $460; the low ball was something like $190. He was pumped when he emailed me to get the lower rate.
Then he started looking more closely at the airline touting its $190 low rate. Carry-on bags added costs; how much you weighed cost extra; if you sat in the first 30 rows, that took more out of your wallet; if you needed a haircut, they charged you an extra $25; and if you were taller than 6’0”, it was another $40. All told, the fees brought this cost to $460. It was a stalemate.
Ban the fees. Give it to us straight. So the next time you have to use a hospital, that $40 bandaid isn’t a surprise.