AUSTIN, TX — The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) recreation center, which is scheduled to open this fall, could have alumni and families of students working out alongside UTPA students, faculty and staff, The Brownsville (TX) Herald reported.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved UTPA charging students an extra $75 per semester to pay for the recreation center, regardless of whether students used the center, according to the newspaper report.
According to the fee schedule, which the board also approved, the recreation center would charge $250 a year to UTPA faculty and staff or their spouses who want to use the facility, $300 a year to alumni and their spouses, $220 a year to spouses of students, and $250 to retired faculty or staff.
UTPA President Blandina Cardenas told the board that the university would not offer broad memberships to the community but was trying to improve its relationship with alumni who have asked to use the gym, the newspaper reported.
UTPA students approved the $26 million recreation center in May 2004.