DELUXE REC CENTER AIMS TO IMPRESS
UConn’s $100 million fitness facility offers rock climbing, swimming, other activities
STORRS – Spanning four stories and 191,000 square feet, UConn’s new Student Recreation Center rivals any luxury gym, complete with a $100 million price tag.
The rec center includes four fitness zones, 5,000 square feet of rock climbing space, two swimming pools, a mind-body studio with an outdoor terrace, and a four-court gymnasium. “UCONN, the new Club Med,” read one comment under the center’s “sneak peek” video of the new facility.
UConn, which opens its new recreation center officially on Monday morning, is hardly the only university investing millions of dollars on non-academic amenities as they compete more intensely for a shrinking student population. College-ranking websites list dozens of schools based on which has the most luxurious recreation centers. Ohio State’s facility, built in 2007, cost $140 million. Illinois State University’s fitness center cost about $50 million.
These investments are part of a larger trend among schools aiming to attract more students, including deluxe dining halls, dormitories and recreation centers. As state funding stagnates, public universities like UConn may have to rely more heavily on student tuition to pay the bills. A 2018 Journal of Labor Economics study found that highachieving students alone are attracted to quality academics, while new gyms or
fancy dorms get attention from a larger student pool.
“Research has shown that there are three primary factors that students look at when they’re wanting to attend colleges and universities: The first is majors, the second is cost and the third is recreational opportunities,” said UConn Recreation Executive Director Cyndi Costanzo in UConn Today.
“Participation in recreation and fitness welcomes people into a community and, at the end of the day, what do we all want? We want to belong,” she said. “We want to be part of something, and this center will provide a fun, inclusive environment for anyone. There’s not many places likes that.”
To pay back construction expenses, undergraduate student fees will increase by $500 annually, while graduate student fees will increase by $400. Student fees for the 20192020 academic year total $3,428 per undergraduate, and tuition totals $30,484 for Connecticut residents.
“The rec center looks beautiful, but $500 for about an 8-month gym membership is a pretty anomalous cost. For all the whining that has been done, though, it seems that cost is justified for the size and scope of this project,” wrote students on the The Daily Campus Editorial Board. “The only question now, then, is whether the rec center in practice will be everything it has to be promised.”
Earlier this summer, UConn announced its budget for the 2020 fiscal year. According to a board of trustees presentation, UConn and UConn Health have faced $166 million in state cuts, fund sweeps and rescissions since 2010. Former university president Susan Herbst warned lawmakers about the consequences of a flattening budget on the university’s competitiveness.
As multimillion dollar gyms and luxurious dorms become the norm among state universities, schools may have to spend elsewhere to impress prospective students. New UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas plans to double the school’s research spending to $500 million over the next decade.