All,

Here is a question that comes up for us with increasing frequency.  As all institutions, we are re-examinging our financial policies in this era of increased economic scrutiny.

We are a small museum located on the grounds of a prehistoric Native American earthwork complex.  We interpret the Native American and other traditional cultures of the community.  Over 1/3 of our annual visitation comes from visiting school groups for which we offer a discounted rate.  However, as a general statement, and based on past precedent, we most often do not charge groups of students on formal class visits from higher education institutions.

We do fee waiver formal class, individual student and alumni visits from our governing authority/parent institution, the University of Memphis.  The U of M fee waiver makes complete sense as we are formally a part of the institution.  But we question why we give fee waivers to formal class visits from other universities when we do charge class visits from K-12 institutions.  The non U of M higher education fee waiver only extends to formal class visits.

Our best rationale to date is that the fee waiver for higher education institutions is seen as a professional courtesy as the visiting classes are often Native American studies, anthropology, or some other discipline relevant to our museum.  However, the K-12 classes also are studying an aspect of content in their coursework.

Do others have a similar policy?

Thanks,

Robert

Robert P. Connolly, PhD
Director, C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa
1987 Indian Village Drive, Memphis, Tennessee  38109
901-785-3160, ext. 15

Associate Professor, Anthropology
The University of Memphis 38152
901-678-3331

Chair, Public Education Committee, Society for American Archaeology

http://www.memphis.edu/chucalissa/
http://rcnnolly.wordpress.com/

The mission of the C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa, a division of the University of Memphis, is to protect and interpret the Chucalissa archaeological site's cultural and natural environments, and to provide the University Community and the public with exceptional educational, participatory, and research opportunities on the landscape's past and present Native American and traditional cultures.





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