Returning students who want to workout at the Student Recreational Sports Complex this summer may find a surprise at the check-in desk.
Mike Giles, associate director at the Rec Center, said for many years, a separate summer fee for the Rec has existed for students.
But some students who are not attending full-time classes during the summer said they were able to get in without paying an extra fee.
This summer, however, Rec Center employees are letting no one in without having paid the summer usage fee.
Justin Wiggins, a senior in general studies, said last year he was registered for fall and spring classes but not summer school. He was able to workout in the Rec Center without paying an extra fee.
Wiggins said last summer Rec Center employees would swipe his card but never asked for the $30 summer usage fee. This summer he was asked to pay.
“There’s always been a fee for this facility – fall, spring and summer,” Giles said.
Giles said with the Spring 2002 student vote to increase the Rec Center fee, the summer fee was increased from $15 to $20 for students attending summer school.
Students who are full-time during the summer, registered for six hours, automatically pay the fee in their fee bills.
But part-time students or students not registered for summer classes have to pay the fee on their first visit to the Rec Center in the summer. People not registered for any summer classes must pay $30. Part-time students pay $20.
Giles said new student identification cards given out last fall are making the check-in systems more effective all over campus.
In the past few years, card-slide machines were added so Rec Center customer service representatives could tell if a student currently was registered at the University. But the new student ID cards help Rec Center workers determine not only if a student is registered but if they have actually paid their fee bill for that semester.
Jennifer Bordelon, a senior in psychology who is currently enrolled full-time for the summer, witnessed the sensitivity of the cards. She said the first time she went to the Rec this summer, she was told she had to pay the $20 fee.
Bordelon was not aware whether her fee bill had been paid at the time of her initial visit to the Rec. She said the next time she returned to the Rec the card showed she was a full-time student.
Cherie Dugar, a Rec Center employee at the check-in desk, said many students are surprised they have to pay a summer fee.
Dugar said some students also are not aware they must have their student ID card with them. She said employees cannot use Social Security numbers or any other form of identification because the information is on the ID cards.