For the past six years, SF State students have contributed to the construction of the Mashouf Wellness Center through fees embedded in their tuition.
According to the center’s website, “the Recreation and Wellness Center Student Fee was approved in 2010 after a signature petition of the student body in late 2009. SF State students successfully petitioned to increase their student fees for the specific purpose of funding the design, construction, and operation of a student recreation and wellness center on the San Francisco State University campus.”
Student fees, as well as private donations, funded the $86.5 million dollar facility.
Fees began at $35 per semester in 2010, and then gradually increased to $90 per semester in 2012.
The Mashouf Wellness Center will open its doors in 2017, eight years after the project was first curated. Those who petitioned for the increased fees have since graduated and didn’t have the chance to enjoy the fruit of their labor during their time at SF State. Although past student investors were unable to experience the center while enrolled, they will be able to once it’s complete.
Pam Su, director of campus recreation, assures alumni, as well as SF State faculty and staff, will have access to the school’s new state of the art wellness center.
“One group is called the alumni investor group, and those are students who have been paying this $90 per semester to the building project, that will graduate before the building opens. These are people who helped invest in this building and became alumni before they could enjoy the building, we will have a special discounted membership for them,” said Su. “Then for other alumni who are older and never paid in, but are still in the area, there will be perhaps a limited number of memberships for them.”
In addition to SF State students, the center’s doors will also be open to the faculty and staff on campus.
“Optional memberships will be offered to faculty and staff because we realized that if faculty and staff are happy, healthy and well, that makes a big difference on our entire campus community,” said Su.
The Mashouf Wellness Center is currently under construction on the corner of Font and Lake Merced Blvd. Once construction is over, the center will have a first and second floor that will feature a two-court basketball gym, a multi-activity court, three exercise studios, a climbing wall, racquetball courts, 18-person spa, locker rooms and more.
Once the center opens, rec center fees will jump up to $160 per semester, covering the rest of the construction costs, as well as the programs and services the center will provide. According to Su, personalized services such as personal training or personal massage appointments will come at an additional cost, but they are doing their best to keep costs as low as possible for students.
Second year business major Julia Padgett, is looking forward to the center but is not pleased with the $160 payments she will be making for each semester, stating “I think it’s kind of wrong to make everyone pay for it when not everyone’s gonna use it,” said Padgett. “I feel like I’m never gonna go there.”
Although the rec center will not be utilized by everyone, it has potential to bring benefits to the campus.
“We’re super excited about the space and how much it will give to the students at the campus community,” said Su. “It will enhance the possibilities for more student life on campus, and it’s been a project that’s been on it’s way for quite some time, and we’re on schedule to open in 2017.”
