FOCUS: Fit to Pay

Students' wallets are getting a workoutStudents' wallets are getting a workoutfrom the Hutch Fitness Center Currently, a University education allows students the opportunity to become wealthy and wise. The healthy portion of Franklin's proverb, however, requires more than just an alarm clock -- membership at the Hutchinson Gymnasium Fitness Center necessitates a hefty wad of cash. Since the center's inception in 1988, students, faculty and staff have been charged a fee to use the Nautilus weight room and aerobic equipment. In 1989, students were charged a yearly fee of $135; today, students are charged $125. College sophomore Marc Cohen did not join the facility because of the money and "there were other things I could do." Cohen transferred from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he said there are four different fitness centers -- all of which offered high-quality equipment at no extra cost to students. "It's been an inconvenience -- I don't think I've been able to fulfill the same type of workout goals as I did at Madison," he said. "I think anyone will tell you that in order to have a fit mind, you have to have a fit body." College junior Beth Ferreira joined the fitness center in the middle of the year, having been previously deterred from buying a membership because of the cost. "For what they have there, I don't think it's worth it to have to pay $125 a year," she said. "The facilities stink, it smells, it's stuffy and who wants to exercise on top of someone else?" Ferreira added that she was not aware that students do not have to pay for use of the facilities at other institutions. "I'd think that for $28,000 a year they would let you use the Stairmaster for free," she said. In fact, all other Ivy League schools except for Cornell University provide Nautilus and aerobic equipment to their students free of charge. At Cornell, students pay a fee of $135 a year to use the campus' two athletic facilities, according to senior Gary Baldwin. Many Cornell students therefore opt not to work out on campus, and instead choose to join athletic clubs in Ithaca, many of which charge over $125 a semester, Baldwin said. At Columbia University, anyone carrying a University identification card is allowed admission to the Dodge Fitness Center, which houses an indoor running track, pool, weight facilities, saunas and exercise and conditioning equipment. "Our policy is that all students, faculty and staff can use our facility," explained Al Carlson, Columbia's assistant director of athletics. "It's hopefully something students can take with them for the rest of their lives." The University's own fitness center was the brainchild of a student committee during the 1986-87 school year. Since the only existing place for exercise was a free weight room in Hutch at the time, the group asked the President's Office for assistance in updating the campus facilities. "We had to take a position and looked at various areas -- the only one we really had was the Hutch gym," Recreation Director Bob Glascott said. "It was originally going to be financed and paid for out of the President's office." However, as the situation developed, the money ended up coming from a loan by the University to the Recreation Department. "Both the student group and the athletic department tried to get funding for it -- it eventually came down to a point of investment," Vice President of Facilities and Management Arthur Gravina said. "There just weren't any funds available." "Another caveat was that we didn't want it to affect tuition money and the general fee," Gravina said, adding that the funds came from the University Treasurer's Office. The center was established under the agreement that it would be financially self-sufficient. Monies collected from the students have been used to pay for the equipment and other fees related to the general upkeep of the facility -- from the salary of the fitness center's director to the paychecks for the center's student employees. But various administrators disagree about the amount of the original cap placed on the loan's repayment. Assistant Director of Recreation John Hamrick was told the loan would be paid back in five years when he started working for the University in September 1988. "Now its been over five years and I was told that the loan was re-done over a seven-year period rather than five years," he said. Glascott confirmed that the loan was extended to seven years when the center increased acquisition of aerobic equipment -- which today includes eight Stairmasters, three treadmills, five stationary bicycles and two NordicTrack machines. The center contained only two bicycles when it first opened. "I know we have another year, and the money is down to roughly $21,000 a semester," he said. "When this is paid off, my suggestion is that we still charge a modest fee. It would be great if it could be free, but like the Levy Tennis Center and the ice rink, [the facilities] have to pay for themselves." Glascott said the loan will be paid off during the 1995-96 fiscal year. The center's budget, which encompasses all the above costs, totals $120,000 annually. But Gravina said it was originally a seven-year loan. "A five-year loan would have required a higher cost of administration and membership," he said. "The whole idea was to keep it at a five-year period, but it was not financially feasible." After the loan is paid off, he said, "we have to plow funds back into over $100,000 of equipment." "If there is an excess of operating expenses, it ought to go for the replacement of equipment," he said. "It is very rare that fees go down. If you take away that income, you have to replace it with another type of income. If expenses go down, then yes, you may decide you want to use fees in another area -- somebody has to pay for it." Potentially, such income could go to the maintenance of the facility, such as the payment of bathroom expenses, he said. "This was a supplemental facility for people who wanted a supplemental facility," he said. "It's not big enough to accommodate the whole university. It's something over and above." Fitness center administrators such as Hamrick, however, questioned the administration's fiscal intentions. "Even once the loan is paid off, I don't know what their intentions are," Hamrick said. "You have a guaranteed income -- it's tough to say, 'oh, we're going to stop [charging students].' "Personally, I don't believe students should have to pay. From what I have been told, a percentage of the student activity fee goes to recreation -- in essence, they're already paying recreation fees," he added. "Philosophically, I don't believe they should be paying." Fitness Center Director Joanne Rafferty said she believes the University should make a commitment to recreation and fitness. "The University has to start putting money into recreational programs for students -- not just a fitness center, but offering more classes and more well-rounded programs," she said. "You're learning things you can't learn sitting still in class or with a beer in your hand. That is just as much a responsibility of the University as classes and residential living. If it's a priority to students, then they need to do something about it." The Athletic Department is currently in what Rafferty terms a period of "limbo," with Athletic Director Steve Bilsky making restructuring changes. Bilsky was unavailable for comment. But College junior and Undergraduate Assembly member Eric Tienou, who is in charge of the UA's committee on Hutch, said he is aware of Bilsky's restructuring plan, which he said will involve new facilities for recreation and fitness. Money for a $220,000 repair to the Hutch weight room, which includes a newly poured concrete floor with rubber matting and air ventilation system, was generated from the President's Office, Tienou said. "We're looking at making it cheaper," he said. "Students are willing to pay for it -- it's a problem they are paying, but it is not a major, major problem." As far as Tienou has been informed, the revenue from student fees goes directly into the upkeep of the facility. "To my understanding, the revenue is going just to the fitness center," he said. "It's not like the University is making a profit from that. If it was, I would have a major problem with that -- the University should not be making a profit from students." Tienou believed such fees should be included in tuition. "I think it would give it greater access to everybody," he said. University administrators agreed that while it is possible for the membership fee to be reduced, it was not probable that it would ever be completely cut. "Everybody feels that they're fee-ed to death," Gravina said. "The whole thing started with a fee for service kind-of-thing to go for a top-flight facility."