As I walk through the Student Center, I am constantly reminded how awesome the new state-of-the-art Recreation and Wellness Center will be next fall. There is going to be a hanging figure-eight track, a lounge pool and a rock wall.
There's only one problem: I will never get to use it. I will, however, have paid $600 for it by the time I graduate this spring.
The reason, I am told, I cannot complain about this fee is because it was a self-assessed fee, meaning that we, students, assessed it to ourselves by voting majority "yes" in the campaign to build the new center in February 2009. I voted "no," knowing I would never see my $600 again. I'd rather have an iPad or pay some bills or something.
Looking at images of workout rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows plastered all over the Student Center makes me bitter. The University is always asking me for more money. Take for example, the "Student Giving Campaign"--what a joke! I want some payoff.
What if there were a way those who paid fees for the rec center, but will graduate before its opening, could see some payoff?
What if, by some stroke of magic, the University decided we deserved some kind of rain check? That would be sweet. Those of us who may decide to stick around Auburn could still use the center.
Currently, the fee for the recreation center is $150 per semester, but it will jump to $200 next fall when the center opens. Since I will have paid $600, that would equate to three semesters of use, redeemable within a span of a certain number of years (I'm thinking 10). I think that's fair--and highly unlikely.
I guess I'm not used to things at Auburn being fair. It also would have been fair for me to get football tickets as a freshman. That didn't happen.
If I got to use the recreation center for three semesters, I would be happy. Until I receive the rain check I deserve, I won't be satisfied.
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