From The Michigan Daily:
Under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, a public body like the University may give requested records to the media at no cost or a reduced charge if the information benefits the general public. Yet several records requests from The Michigan Daily to the University’s FOIA Office have resulted in fees of hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of dollars to obtain records to be used in news articles that benefit the public.
[…]
When a university charges thousands of dollars to retrieve a public records request, it raises questions about how the school is managing its information, says Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit that advocates for student journalists’ First Amendment rights.