Med school student explains breakdown of annual fee structure and calls it 'embezzlement'

One of the investments a person makes when they are young is education. Nothing beats the hefty amounts one spends on college tuition fees and other expenses for college needs. Several students have to take up part-time jobs to pay the fees and loans. Licia (@liciugh) took to TikTok to share the breakdown of these fees. Being a med student pursuing education in only one of the greatest, the University of Pennsylvania, Licia mentioned that there are direct and indirect costs that are paid on an annual basis at Upenn. Before she could offer the breakdown of the fees, she mentioned that she was living off-campus which would also be calculated as part of the expense as “Upenn does not offer dorms for med students.” 

She began with the direct costs and started with tuition. This accounts for one of the compulsory fees every student has included in their fee structure. The cost of this was a solid $65,940. The same is divided into the Fall and Spring terms. She humorously mentions, “It’s a lot but we’re gonna be a doctor after this so…” She spoke about the next category titled General Fees, which amounted to $3,802. This low-key got her confused as the title seemed to be indefinite. Next was the Technology Fee which amounted to $1,450 followed by a Clinical Fee which was $688. Yet, the categories seemed vague from Licia’s expressions. Like every other student, she was wondering, “Why all this?” 

The next and last section of the direct fees was titled “Fee” which was $55. This got Licia a little disappointed and confused as this was vague. Every student knows that every dollar counts, especially when you’re working hard at simple jobs for it. Licia said, “We’re gonna title that one embezzlement.” This brought her to the total of the direct fees which was $71,935. Next, was the indirect costs which were kind of the real deal. She began with the housing fee that came to $20,240 again divided for 2 semesters. The woman reminded her viewers that these were just estimates and mentioned, “This is an underestimate for me.” 

With the given economy, accommodation and basic lodging are also not affordable in addition to these expenses, it becomes painstaking for students to figure out how to pay for the same. Food expenses came to $6,640 and personal expenses came to over $2000. She highlighted how $2000 is barely enough for personal expenses. The last few categories in the indirect fees were transportation and insurance which were $1,280 and $4,210 respectively. There was another vague category of $390 which Licia had no idea about. The indirect cost was a total of over $35,000 and adding the two, the total was, as she mentioned, a "whopping $1,06,955" per year. Before the video was taken down by Licia, the commentators on her post joined hands to break the ice on the “embezzlement” in the name of fees. @k3ystroke said, “They are just making these numbers up.” @jadeznutss said, “Literally half the fees are embezzlement.”