Student Recreation & Wellness Center
In the Fall, 2004 this beautiful addition to the Washburn University campus opened its doors to the students, and to a lesser degree to the Washburn University faculty and staff. 
Membership
There are two categories of membership, student and faculty/staff. Students currently pay no additional charge for the facility; faculty/staff pay at an annual rate of $150 for membership.
Source of Funds - Capital Costs
Sometimes one can get the impression that this type of development on campus is without cost. However, as most know from personal experience, at some point the bill collector shows up for payment. The Student Wellness Center was funded with revenue bonds issued in 2001. Payment on these bonds will be made over the next twenty years from sales tax collection proceeds at the rate of approximately $805,000 per year.
Already the budgeted cost for this building has exceeded the allocated bond proceeds. As best as one can tell from the documentation from the Board of Regents meetings, the total budget for this project (pdf) was $5,562,620, with $5,450,000 of bond proceeds allocated to fund this project, a deficit of $112,620.
Source of Funds - Operating Costs
The Official Statement for the issuance of the Series 2001 revenue bonds indicated that "On-going operating costs will be funded from the implementation of a $2 to $4 per credit hour student fee." This source of funds was reiterated in March, 2001 when the architect was selected and in December, 2001 when the site selection was approved. However, in March, 2003 when the construction contract was awarded, the source of funds for the $600,000 annual operating expenses (pdf) changed to the "general fund allocation established in Fiscal Year 2002-2003". Students should watch the administration to make sure they are not surprised with a new credit hour fee in the same way that the faculty/staff were caught off guard when they learned they would have to pay for a fitness benefit that used to be free to them.