After a recent perusal of my bursar account, I noticed a funny little charge just above my tuition bill.

It read "CHRG ACTIVITY FEE."

What?

More simply put, it's the student activity fee assessed to students without fail at $57 per semester.

It occured to me that despite being assessed $114 per year tickets to sporting events aren't free, the workout facilities on this campus are both insufficient in handling the amount of students at Penn State and subject to a surcharge, and IM sports have registration fees.

Is there just cause for Penn State to nickel-and-dime its students to death?

Can someone explain why a university with the world's largest active alumni base, a $3.2 billion operating budget, the highest in-state tuition of any publicly subsidized school and some of the finest varsity athletic facilities on the planet needs to charge me to attend a basketball game or to sign up for IM sports?