All students, regardless of how many credits they are taking, must pay the Rec Center fee of $250 per semester, according to University Communications. Photo by Maggie Chafouleas / The Daily Campus
Regardless of student status, all University of Connecticut students must pay an additional $500 annually, to offset construction costs for the new Recreational Center, according to University Communications Deputy Spokesperson, Mike Enright.
Opening its doors in late August, the new $100 million state-of-the-art Recreational Center will affect both part-time and full-time University of Connecticut students, footing the same cut of the student fees for the student recreational fee.
Deputy Spokesperson from University Communications, Mike Enright explains, “All students, regardless of part-time or full-time status, pay the student Recreation Center fee of $250 per semester. The fee was not set up to be paid on a ‘sliding scale’, because there is no correlation between the access of the REC Center to full-time or part-time student status.”
The multistory facility, which features a 5,000- square-foot Rock-Climbing space and four fitness zones, is part of a larger trend among colleges aiming to target a greater number of prospective students.
“Research has shown that there are three primary factors that students look at when they’re wanting to attend colleges and universities,” added Executive Director of the Rec Center, Cyndi Constanza. “The first is majors, the second is cost and the third is recreational opportunities,” Constanza shared with UConn Today.
Some UConn students however, have expressed contrasting views, bemoaning that the old Rec Center, though not Club Med standard, was satisfactory.
“Its very nice, it’s very fancy. But if it was made a little smaller and maybe less fancier, they could’ve avoided us paying such a hefty price for it. We didn’t have to pay for the old Rec Center, and it served the same purpose, so maybe improvements on that, instead of a whole new facility would’ve been ideal,” expressed Davida Tavan, a fifth semester biology and psychology double major. The pricing, justified by stagnancy in state funding to public universities like UConn, has forced the university to rely on student tuition to offset certain costs.
Seeking to bring clarity to part-time students whom might be predisposed to lesser access to the REC Center by virtue of them not residing on campus, and also being on campus less, as opposed to full-time students, Enright said, “If part-time students were to pay a fee based on student status, it could be argued that part-time students are receiving the same services and access as full-time students at a reduced rate.”
Part-time UConn students are those enrolled in fewer than 12 credits per semester, as opposed to full-time students who attempt at least 12 per semester.
Nicholas Martin is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at nicholas.r.martin@uconn.edu
