If you’re not taking classes this summer and would like to use the Student Recreation Center, be prepared to pay the price. Students must pay a fee to utilize the Rec facilities during the summer.
According to billing explanations provided online by Texas A&M University Student Business Services, the student recreation center fee is a “$106.00 per semester fee, $53.00 per summer five week term, required of all students for the purpose of operating, maintaining, improving and equipping the Student Recreation Center.”
Dennis Corrington, Executive Director of Recreational Sports at Texas A&M University, provided insight as to what all the fee goes towards.
“Everything the Student Recreation Center does has to be paid for by the funds generated from the student fee,” Corrington said. “This means student wages for those who work at the Student Recreation Center, utilities and maintenance. These three alone amount to approximately 5 million dollars a year, which just begins to scratch the surface.”
The student recreation fee is a state mandated fee guarded by strict guidelines set by the Texas Education Code. It pertains to when and how the fee can be increased to meet the needs of a growing student body. Corrington said students have the right to voice their opinions in fee increases.
“If the student recreation fee is going to be increased by more than 10 percent of the current fee price, it must be voted on by the student body,” Corrington said.
Most recently, an increase to the student recreation fee was voted on by the student body to add two new facilities on campus. Since this increase was over the 10 percent allowed by the Texas Education Code, the proposed increase was brought to vote by the student body and passed.
“We were able to expand the current facility without raising the fee because we had paid off the debt on the building,” Corrington said. “This time, students have asked for increased facilities which led us to the vote this past year to provide the funds to build those facilities.”
Corrington said about 80 percent of students utilize the Rec in a semester.
“It was higher when our student body was at 50,000 students,” Corrington said. “As the student body has grown, the facility just doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate all of the students.”