A graduated fee capped at $10 per semester for those students taking or auditing nine or more credit hours, except those studying law or veterinary medicine but including students enrolled in distance education, was imposed beginning in fall 2012. The fee was imposed to fund student services, acquisition of books and electronic resources, and enhanced library services and operations. The fee is not the first library fee in place at the institution. In 1836 a library fee of 50 cents per session was instituted, but the fee did not return after UT reopened following the Civil War.