FARGO (AP) - An internal auditor is reviewing the North Dakota State University architecture and landscape architecture department, at the request of a dean.

The audit is the result of students' questions. Cory Miskowiec, who will be a fifth-year architecture student next year, said students want a say in how their $1,640 a year is spent and want to better understand where their money goes.

Students can be part of a program fee committee. Miskowiec said those meetings are "just a show" and students are never asked to make recommendations.

Department Chairman Paul Gleye said he welcomes a thorough audit and hopes it will clear up student concerns.

"I think it will show that we are spending the students' money appropriately and carefully," he said.

Gleye said students have input on the program fee budget, but ultimately it is up to him and the faculty to determine where money should be spent.

"It (the program fee budget) is not a savings account for the students, where they can withdraw and spend money as they wish," he said. "It's funds that are used directly for the cost of their education."

Gary Smith, dean of engineering and architecture, said he requested the audit after he heard from several students with questions about program fees. He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Barry Miller, manager for audit and advisory services, said he did not know when the audit would be finished.

The program fee that architecture students pay goes up every year as tuition increases. It will be about $1,750 next fall. The fees are on top of tuition and other student fees.

Architecture charges the second-highest program fee at NDSU, behind pharmacy. That fee will be more than $5,200 for the next academic year.

Program fees, which need approval from the state Board of Higher Education, support programs such as architecture that are more expensive to offer, said John Adams, NDSU vice president for finance and administration.

In the case of architecture and landscape architecture, program fees fund computer labs and a wood shop that only those students use. The fees also pay salaries for personnel who run those facilities, a portion of faculty salaries and educational field trips that are required for all students.

Nicholas Bigelow, a landscape architecture student who graduated this spring, said students mistrust the administration, especially after an incident in which they were assessed a fee for sink repairs.

Gleye said he has been targeted by graffiti that accuses him of stealing.

"Every dollar is traceable," he said.