The Student Required Fee Advisory Council approved a fee increase recommendation for the Student Health Center and determined two possible plans of action for University Recreation proposed fee increase at the Dec. 1 meeting.Originally, the Health Center proposed a fee request increase of $17, but Student Government President and committee chair Colorado Robertson said the fee increase was decreased by one dollar.The current fees for the Health Center are $72 for the summer and $120 for the fall and spring. Students will now pay $136 for the fall and spring beginning with the 2009 fall semester.Robertson attributed the reduced fee to the University’s projected growth.”The expected increase in enrollment brought the fee down to $16,” Robertson said.The Health Center fee increase will be submitted to LSU System President John Lombardi.Art Goulas, Student Health Center director, said he understands any kind of increase will be difficult for students.”I will always put your money into direct services first,” Goulas said. “We want to make sure everything we do is accurate.”After three years, Health Center fees will be $171 for the fall and spring and $96 for the summer.With the fee increase for the Health Center, Goulas said he hopes to add new employees to improve student services. Employees include a psychiatric nurse practitioner, a physician and a nurse.Robertson said the $16 increase — which is a decrease from the proposed $20 increase made to last year’s committee — will save students about $900,000 over the next three years.University Recreation Director Tamara Jarrett and Eric Monday, interim vice chancellor of Student Life, discussed alternative payoff plans to bring the University Recreation out of its near $1 million debt while leaving the facility with a reserve for the ’09-’10 fiscal year.Monday suggested accepting a loan from an auxiliary campus service and then increasing fees by $15 for the summer and $25 beginning in fall 2009. If University Recreation is not able to obtain a loan, Monday suggested a “bare bones” plan.”We’re trying to minimize that fee,” Monday said.The SRFAC decided a fee increase of $16 for the summer and $32 for fall 2009 and spring 2010 will be necessary if University Recreation is unable to get a loan from an auxiliary. This increase would bring the fee to $36 total for the summer and $77 per semester during the 2009-2010 school year. This increase would account for University Recreation fee and include reserve money.”That would leave [University Recreation’s ending] reserves at $100,000,” Monday said.The fee would be lowered to $30 for the summer and $65 per semester during the next three school years.Monday said he wants to speak with Jerry Baudin, vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services, about the University Recreation’s two recommendations for fee increase and taking care of the debt. The SRFAC agreed to wait for Baudin’s recommendation before voting on the increase.The recommendations by the committee will need to be approved by LSU System President John Lombardi before going into effect.—Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]