New recreation center fees add financial constraints

By Michael Contreras     9/3/09 7:00pm

In recent conversations with fellow gym enthusiasts about our excitement surrounding the Sept. 25 opening of the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, the topic of the proposed membership fees inevitably arises. I almost always receive two reactions from students, the first being, "Huh? What fees?" and the second usually being a mixture of outrage and despair. I find these reactions to be somewhat ironic given that Rice just received Princeton Review's No. 1 ranking for "best quality of life." Although this membership fee will affect all members of the Rice community, I feel it is one that is not resonating well with students, returning students especially.

Now, nobody is ever happy about new fees, whether large or small, but I feel the imposition of this particular fee evokes such emotion because it strikes at the heart of two core issues: value of the student and economic viability.

From the project's groundbreaking on April 22, 2008, until a tiny post on the rec center Web site on Aug. 17, 2009, minimal public mention was ever made of membership fees. Given that the gym is set to open Sept. 25, it is shameful to wait this long without informing students who have been accustomed to paying nothing to use Rice's recreational facilities.

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After much persistence, the Graduate Student Association was able to secure an e-mail from the Athletics Department regarding the topic. According to the e-mail, the undergraduate fee will be rolled into tuition. Graduate students can optionally pay the gym membership at the $120 per year rate with a special prorated fee of $105 this year beginning Oct. 1. Post-doctoral students will be lumped in the alumni and staff category and will be charged $288 per year.

Graduate students, however, must purchase a gym membership to be eligible to even play intramural sports. Examining the membership fees as an isolated entity, one may hasten to say, "Wow, sounds like a great deal for a great facility!" However, it is this lack of knowledge of the general context of the Rice student experience that is precisely what is upsetting to students.

It may be said that the imposition of the recreational center membership fees has been the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for some graduate students as they struggle to stretch their stipends. Take a typical student above the age of 25 in the Psychology Department, funded by a stipend that amounts to $18,500 per year, which the president's office has informed us is comparable with our peer institutions. After taxes, this student is taking home roughly $1,500 per month. (Bear in mind that stipends vary widely across the university, and averaging them is not necessarily representative of the situation.)

Nonetheless, when we add up all the yearly expenses graduate students must pay - including rent at Rice Village Apartments, parking, health services, health insurance premium, health insurance deductible and the proposed recreational membership fee - the total nears $900 per month.

It is important to notice that health, wellness and the recreational center membership fees comprise roughly $1,310 annually of this student's overall Rice incurred expenses. Besides rent, there is no greater expense than health and wellness for the typical graduate student.

In summary, the devil is truly in the details. Although the university administration, on the front end, has made great strides to make stipends more competitive, increase graduate student housing, provide adequate recreational facilities and keep the health insurance fees consistent, it has also induced unwritten corollary fees associated with this growth that has rendered it impossible for most students to enjoy the very facilities that were created for them in the first place.

It is no wonder that graduate students have sought more economically viable ways to circumvent the system: moving out of the Rice Graduate Apartments, never going to the doctor - as evidenced by two years of low insurance payout of which no savings was passed on to the student - parking their cars in the neighboring community, postponing starting a family and, soon, opting out of their gym membership.

It seems to be a grim situation, but there are very logical and clear solutions that can be implemented in the near future without drawing on additional resources. Here are a few:

Be upfront with incoming students: Graduate students' offer letters should state in plain language their stipend and all required/special fees tied to their enrollment at Rice.

Have professors pay their students' annual $125 IT fees from grants: It is amazing that graduate students are subsidizing IT out of their own pocket to maintain computers and network services that they are required to use as part of their research. This would be laughable in the job world, analogous to the company you work for deducting a portion of your check to pay for server and e-mail maintenance.

Get rid of the stipulation for graduate students that you must have a gym membership to play intramural sports: Unless your sole purpose is to handicap the GSA in college competition, there is no fiscal reason to do this. Here's why: Only a small minority of graduate IM competitors do not currently use the old recreational facilities. Assuming IM competitors who do use the old gym purchase memberships to the new facility, the money left not generated by allowing that small minority to engage in IM sports without membership would be negligible.

Engage the GSA and SA: I want to express my appreciation for the productive and attentive manner in which Kathy Collins and her staff have addressed the contentious issue of phasing out student club Chase bank accounts last year. The university began the process with ample notification, engaged both the SA and GSA and continues to maintain dialogue as the changeover continues.

However, it is upsetting to see that a similar mindset was not present in the administration's dealing with the membership fees. So far, dialogue with the Athletics Department on the topic has been scant and inconsistent. The lack of publicity regarding the membership fees and clouded lines of communication have caused students to feel that their interests are being overlooked.

To borrow a line from The Godfather, we are all "reasonable people here" and are all willing to do whatever is necessary to find an adequate compromise to this complex issue. Surely, Director of Athletics Chris Del Conte is a "reasonable man," and if we just sit down and talk, maybe he can make us an offer we can't refuse.

Michael Contreras is a civil engineering graduate student and GSA parliamentarian.

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