With no more pool and no more free gym, many students are left wondering why athletics fees continue to climb
Photo by Tenney Glynn.
With tuition –– and student fees –– being due at the end of this month, many students are curious to know: what is their athletics and recreation fee actually funding?
In fall 2024, UVic made the decision to drain the McKinnon Pool, to the dismay of students and community members alike, with the final closure being announced July 2024. That same year, UVic quietly closed the McKinnon gym, the only gym on campus that offered weight room facilities to students without an additional membership fee.
Despite the closure of both of these facilities, all undergrad students, whether part-time or full-time, and whether or not they use any athletics facilities, are required to pay the full Athletics and Recreation (ATRS) fee. The Vikes Recreation website claims that, “on average,” part-time students use the facilities more than their full-time counterparts.
This year, the fee sits at $100, a nearly $4 increase from last year’s ATRS fee. In a statement to the Martlet, a UVic spokesperson said that “the ATRS fee goes up every year in accordance with the Tuition Limit Policy,” which limits the increase to two per cent per year.
The spokesperson continued that this increase “does not keep pace with inflationary costs associated with delivering our programs. As such, each year this fee becomes a smaller percentage of the department’s annual operating budget.”
According to the Vikes Recreation website, the ATRS fee does provide students with some resources without any extra cost. The fee allows students to access drop-in recreation (basketball, volleyball, badminton, etc.), the Centre for Athletics and Recreation and Special Abilities (CARSA) squash courts, the CARSA stretch zone, and covers tickets to some Vikes games.
These drop-in fitness options, however, don’t appeal to all students. “I’m a little bit upset that I pay a hundred dollars and don’t get to use the weight room,” said Anya, a first year undergraduate student. “So, what are those fees then? Is that just so I can use the squash courts? Because I don’t play squash. Can I opt out of it? No I can’t.”
Despite these being advertised as the “free fitness options” on campus, some of them still come with a cost. For example, students are welcome to go to the drop-in pickleball courts so long as they have their own equipment. If they don’t, equipment can be rented from the equipment desk. Booking the court may be free, but regular rental costs over the course of a semester will add up.
CARSA is now the only gym on campus following the closure of McKinnon. Students are only able to use the centre’s facilities, such as the weight room, if they purchase an additional membership, which now costs $103 per term.
Should students want to access multiple of CARSA’s resources, such as group fitness or yoga classes, they must pay an additional $80 on top of the regular membership fees.
In total, this allots to over $200 in fees, or close to $300 for the particularly eager students, when both the ATRS fee and membership fees are considered.
The ATRS fee is meant to supply students with subsidized student rate memberships at CARSA, however, compared to other gyms in the area, the ATRS fee plus membership fees only adds up to around a $50 discount within a 4 month timespan.
For many students, this begs the question, where is the money going?
“Some universities bundle gym and fitness centre access directly into their student fee at a higher cost. At UVic, the athletics and recreation fee supports core operations and services,” said Michelle Peterson, Director of Operations in the Department of Wellness, Recreation & Athletics, in an emailed statement.
“This approach gives students the choice to opt in to additional recreation options,” the statement continues, “while keeping the base fee lower for everyone.”
Vikes Recreation says the ATRS fee “accounts for less than a third of the department’s overall $14-million operating budget.” According to the Vikes Recreation website, the ATRS “is not a service fee; it provides essential support for ATRS facilities and operations,” and that it also “supports hundreds of students participating in Vikes sports clubs and annual events” such as Thunderfest, Holi Colour Run, and Dodge in the Dark, which students may attend free of charge.
The remainder of the funding is allocated towards “maintaining facilities and renewing equipment.”
However, many students remain frustrated by the way funding is allocated. “If it went to facilities operations, I could go for a swim on campus right now,” said Thomas Jensen, a second year Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) student.
Much of this frustration comes from the continually increasing fee on top of a decreasing number of resources. Vikes Recreation notes that the ATRS fee will not “increase when programs, services or facilities are added, nor does it decrease when changes are made to existing programs, services or facilities.”
