Members of the Student Association are trying to increase the funding the Recreation Center receives and make the facility self-sustaining.

In a spring student referendum, 914 voters said making improvements to the Rec should be made a priority, while 364 said it didn’t need to be a priority. Even before then, the SA was looking at changes and upgrades for the facility.

Mike Theodore, SA chief of staff, said the Rec needs more money and a more consistent budget. At present, the facility doesn’t “have the money to stay open late,” which has changed the Rec’s hours, Theodore said.

“The Rec has so many responsibilities, more so than I think many people give it credit for,” Theodore said. “We’re at this point now where we know there has to be changes.”

Theodore said the SA wants to make changes to either the physical structure of the facility or in its funding model because the Rec is not being adequately funded.

The money the Rec gets comes from the SA through activity fees and from the university through facility fees. Paul Julion, SA director of Athletics and Recreation, said the SA gave the Rec about $324,000 last year. He plans to release a report with more information about Rec funding in the coming weeks.

Since last year the SA has pushed to find alternative ways to fund the Rec. One suggestion was for the Rec to have a dedicated fee, which means students would be paying several more dollars that would be used for the Rec.

“Step one is finding a consistent budget for the Rec every year, step two is to have an updated Rec, an expanded Rec, or the ultimate goal is to have a well-rounded new health and wellness center,” Theodore said.

Theodore said students have said the gym is too crowded, the machines are outdated and, more recently, the hours are too short and not adaptive to students’ schedules.

“We’re doing our homework right now, finding out what we need to do to improve the Rec,” said SA President Jack Barry. “We went to a few other schools to check out what they were doing with their recreation centers to make an educated guess as to what to do and how to do it.”

Another goal of the SA’s is to make the Rec more self-funded and mediate concerns about outdated equipment.

Since the Rec only receives enough money to cover its operation, the facility has to find new sources of funding every year.

“Students should be able to have a good rec center, and that shouldn’t be at the cost of the students,” said Ryan Nickel, sophomore business administration major. “We pay enough in tuition already and I don’t think any more should be added on, but also I think that this is the school’s responsibility….”