THURSDAY
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
MARCH 25, 1999
WASHINGTON POLITICS Helen Thomas speaks 2
SPORTS Softball wins 3 of 4 8
CAMPUS CONCERT "The Letterman" to sing...,4
JOURNALISM Advisement offered 9
SPORTS Baseball going strong 7
COMMENTARY Letters to the Editor..10&11
The Student Voice Since 1903
OK Regents grant approval for $25 Wellness Center fee By Trent Dugas
.Stalftfriter
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—Staff Photo By Shauna Hardway
Best Friends.... Freckle-faced children were painted with innocent smiles March 10 at the Delta Zeta philanthropy party for children from the hearing impaired preschool on campus. The sorority hosted a wide-variety of events for the children that included a petting zoo and kite flying. The children also planted spring flower seeds. Lance, one of the 15 children who attended, became fast friends with a baby lrabbit.
his fall, UCO students will have to reach deeper into their pockets to pay the new $25 Wellness Center fee being added to enrollment costs. UCO got the green light from the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges to implement the new student fee increase. The added fee will be used to raise the $7.8 million needed for the new Wellness Center. The $25 fee increase may seem like a lot to some students. According to Keith Weber, research assistant for the presidents office, a $25 dollar per-student increase per semester will take more than 20 years to accumulate $7.8 million. "We will sell bonds on the financial market to underwrite the project," Weber said. "The university students will pay the debt service on those bonds back by the collection of these new student fees." The Wellness Center will have a swimming pool, weight room, basketball courts and other accommodations. The actual cost for the facility, however, will be $7 million. He said the remaining estimated $800,000 will go toward other services. "When you include cost of issuance, bond insurance money, commission for the people who underwrite the bonds you are actually spending $7.8 million," Weber said. "We also need the extra money for equipment. You are talking weight machines, life vests for the swimming pool, basketballs, nets, volleyballs
and standard equipment for the Wellness Center," Weber said. He said none of those costs are figured into construction; so anything collected above the debt will go to furnishing the facility. Weber said a good way for students to look at the $25 fee increase is to understand they can use the facilities for free. In other words, he said students will not be charged for a membership, but staff and faculty will. "Staff and faculty will pay a nominal fee, very nominal fee. It will be extremely dirt cheap," Weber said. Joel Buffington, advertising management sophomore, said he thought the Wellness Center should be built with student fees. "I don't mind it. I think we need one anyway," Buffington said. "We don't have anywhere to work out. I have to go to a gym and pay for membership, which is $30 anyway; so I would rather have a fitness center on campus and pay the fees that go to a gym."
Keith Weber research assistant to the president's office
