Dear Editor:

As a grad student here at SIUC, I am appalled by all the new ways SIU is trying to extract money from its students. Typically, my husband and I get our exercise by walking around Campus Lake. Because of the heat and humidity that is so oppressive this time of year, though, my husband (not currently a student) and I in past years have gone together to exercise at the Rec Center. Imagine our chagrin when we went upstairs to get him a guest pass the other day and were told that instead of a $2 fee, refundable when the card is returned, the cost has more than doubled to $5 and is non-refundable! Whose idea was this to make the Rec Center unaffordable to those who already cannot afford a season pass?

Students with spouses and family members cannot afford this increase. To bring my husband as a guest five days a week would cost us $100 a month. To bring our kids would be out of the question.

Candace A. Davis

Graduate student studying anthropology