UNM wants to build a new recreation center for its growing student population and increase student fees by $117 per semester to pay construction costs.
UNM's Division of Student Affairs conducted an online survey in February to evaluate recreation programs and see what improvements students wanted.
Kim Kloeppel, fiscal planning officer for Student Affairs, said 3,263 students took part in the survey and results showed that students support a $52-million-dollar recreation center.
The survey shows that 58 percent of students think a new recreation center would improve the quality of life on campus, she said.
There are about 32,000 students enrolled at UNM, according to the UNM Fact Book. That means that only 10 percent of the student population participated in the survey.
Kloeppel said funding for the center will be secured through bonds, and the student fees will be used to pay those bonds back. Students won't be charged fees until after the project is complete, and the fees won't be used to fund other University projects, she said.
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The estimated fee is about $117 per student per semester, but it is subject to change, she said.
"Those fees would be specifically designated for the recreation center," Kloeppel said. "We're trying to keep them as low as we can."
Sean DeBuck, president of UNMPIRG, said the multimillion-dollar amount could be used in other areas on campus.
"Student services are struggling to get by, educational programs are struggling, professors aren't being hired, some are threatening to resign," he said. "We have a $50 million project that doesn't even offer anything new. Johnson Center is well equipped - it's just an insult."
Former ASUNM president Ashley Fate said that finding funding for the center has been one of her top priorities since she was elected.
Fate said the benefits of building a new recreation center will far outweigh the cost of it and that the
University must take advantage of low construction and supply costs before market prices spike again.
Fate said UNM must move forward with the project as soon as possible because delaying it would be fiscally detrimental to the University and students.
"If we procrastinated on this for two years, the amount of the project would just skyrocket," she said. "We wouldn't be able to get the bang for our buck that we currently can."
Kloeppel said that project designers have consulted students on the construction of the new center, and they will continue to do so.
Van Gilbert Architects held a two-day event showcasing the designs and presented students with slides detailing the options available for the center, including a climbing wall, cardio and weight rooms and multipurpose rooms for playing indoor soccer and indoor hockey, she said.
DeBuck said education, not recreation facilities, is what students look for in universities. Under the current administration, priorities have shifted because ASUNM and UNM President David Schmidly are supporting a multimillion-dollar recreation center and the survey didn't offer an alternative to that money, he said.
"A lot of emphasis was on how cool it would be to have a recreation center," DeBuck said. "What about how cool it would be to have student services and education where our priorities need to be - there's a whole realm of issues that they neglected."
Kloeppel said that the new recreation center will be beneficial for expanding and retaining UNM's student population.
"It's a good recruitment tool. It's also a good opportunity to help students reduce stress, and they have found that students who exercise are more engaged in their studies and they are healthier," she said.
Construction of the new recreation center could begin as soon as 2010, Kloeppel said.
