Going to college is a huge financial investment. You have to pay for your books, your tuition and your housing—all of these in the name of higher education.

One of the perks of going to NIU is the availability of a very decent Recreation Center where you can exercise your body after you exercise your mind.

However, I have learned that it costs an arm and a leg through your tuition each semester to use the Rec Center. Even worse, according to facility supervisor Eric McCall, if you are not enrolled in classes over the summer you are required to pay an additional $65 fee in order to use the facilities on top of what you pay to use it throughout the spring and fall semesters. This is absolutely ridiculous.

According to the Office of the Bursar’s online tuition estimator, students are charged a facilities fee of $513.12 a semester. Holy hell! I understand these fees cover more than just the Rec Center, but isn’t it a little ridiculous to have to pay that in order to use the gym and then cough up an extra $65 for the summer?

Why is it if you are a student who lives locally and decides to work versus taking summer classes you have to keep feeding the fire of college costs? It seems to me like this is more of a profit scheme than an attempt to ensure the wellbeing of NIU’s students.

For those of you who haven’t been to the Rec Center this summer, here is what that extra $65 gives you: a weight room located in a converted racquetball court while they upgrade the main room, apathetic student employees who can’t properly help your spouse receive a spouse pass and what appear to be no extra classes like yoga to take.

Sounds like a great deal, no?

“This is the students’ health we’re talking about,” said senior nursing major Nicole Pynenberg. “Everybody has to pay for it, and for those who actually use it and live locally it’s almost like a punishment for trying to earn money over the summer. It’s unfair and the school should focus more on the student’s health versus turning a profit.”

I’m honestly not upset about having to pay a fee in my tuition in order to use the school’s gym, but isn’t it a bit ridiculous that you have to pay extra to use it over the summer?

It’s not like the costs of operating the gym can’t be covered through the fees everyone pays in their tuition.

I love that NIU has a Rec Center that is right off campus and available to students and their spouses, but I don’t see why a student who decides not to take summer classes has to pay a ridiculous fee to use the gym for three months during summer.

I feel it is time we get what we pay for and be able to work on bettering our lives year round as long as we are students in good standing at NIU.