Fees are justified

Using RecSports facilities -- including the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and the Student Recreational Sports Center -- is a privilege for students and should be paid for, especially during the summer sessions. RecSports is a private enterprise, it is not part of the University entity, and it should fund itself any way it can. Charging students to use the facilities is an acceptable way to cover its expenses. Students enrolled in summer sessions at IU have full access to these facilities -- paid for by the activity fee in tuition charges. The activity fee does not go directly go to RecSports -- it is pooled from everyone enrolled and distributed by the IU Student Association to student groups and organizations. This activity fee is what funds basically everything a student does at the University. It cannot be eliminated. Students not enrolled during the summer should pay for the HPER and SRSC facilities they want to use. It would not be fair to the enrolled students who pay for their usage to have "free-loaders" using the weight rooms, pools and exercise areas. One thing that could be done to ease the tension between RecSports and the users is stagger the charges for admission. Customers currently pay $37.46 for both summer sessions, $18.73 for one summer session, $21 weekly, $3.50 daily for the HPER and $5.50 daily for admission to the SRSC. This charge is universal -- it allows access to all areas of RecSports and permission to check out equipment. If RecSports would just charge a separate fee for weight room usage, track usage or pool usage at a cheaper cost, customers would get the option to choose what facility they plan to use at the very beginning and won't pay a large amount for options they won't ever use. Another idea would be to completely separate the activity fee and RecSports facilities. RecSports could charge a yearly membership to use the facilities and students paying tuition would not be charged for HPER and SRSC use if they don't plan to use it. The charge could just be another option to pay on the bursar bill -- such as season football tickets. If students want to use the privately-owned RecSports facilities, they should pay for them, no matter what activity they want to do.