Many professors and administrators express a common complaint about how universities work--that employees and units are often charged fees for work or services they receive from other campus units. This practice, often called "chargebacks," is much misunderstood because it seems counterintuitive: If you are employed by the university, why should you be charged a fee by another part of the institution? While practices vary, most universities employ a number of internal "cost recovery" measures, especially at public institutions strapped for money. The rationale is that each unit should bear its own weight. A fee-based system allows a unit to become self-sustaining, to pay its own way rather than to become a drain on the institution. While the cost of universitywide or buildingwide projects will usually be absorbed centrally, chargebacks are a common method of ensuring that those who benefit from specific services help bear the cost. In this article, the author asserts that the practice of assessing chargebacks is not the university's attempt to bleed its departments dry. It is, rather, a way to ensure that every unit carries its own weight and is accountable for its own productivity.