For the first time this year, Saint Louis University students paid an extra $80 a year to fund student counseling services and other health initiatives.

When the Student Government Association voted last spring to add an additional $40 per semester Wellness Fee to the $50 Recreation Fee, they increased the range of health and wellness services available to students.

The new $90 Wellness Fee brought in $1.7-1.8 million in revenue this year, according to Kent Porterfield, vice president for Student Development.

This money is being utilized to retire debt from two construction projects, fund Student Health and Counseling Services, update fitness equipment in the Simon Recreation Center and support other student wellness initiatives.

Porterfield said rather than add a separate fee focused on student wellness, combining wellness initiatives with the Recreation Fee allows for more flexibility.

“We agreed that the purposes would have to fit this broader context of wellness, in the sense of mind, body and spirit,” Porterfield said.

According to Porterfield, all of the money coming in from the Recreation Fee was paying off debt incurred during the $8 million renovation of the Simon Recreation Center completed in January 2007. As a result, other needs were not being met, such as covering rising costs from Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS).

SHCS started to accrue debt because many of the services offered are not easily billed through a student’s insurance plan. Porterfield said SHCS will bill for its services, but many insurance plans are not robust enough to cover the services. He also said there is a greater need for counseling and SHCS counselors are being utilized more by students.
By using a portion of the Wellness Fee, currently about 20 percent, to help fund SHCS, Porterfield said the University is trying to make it possible for students to use the services, regardless of whether their health insurance benefit pays or not.

“We don’t want people to be denied services, so there’s a [cost] piece we have to make up,” Porterfield said.

Aside from access to health and counseling services, the fee also covers recreation projects. The University is currently completing work on a $3.9 million outdoor recreation complex on the Health Sciences campus. Porterfield said $2.5 million of the project will be paid for out of the Wellness Fee. This year, 65 percent of the Wellness Fee was allocated to pay off debt from the Rec Center and the outdoor recreation complex.

Another 6 percent of the Fee is helping to replace equipment in the Rec Center. “Our intention is to continue to phase out and trade in some of the pieces with higher usage and replace them with updated equipment,” Eric Anderson, director of campus recreation, said.

Anderson said funds from the Wellness Fee helped provide 11 new treadmills, eight Arc Trainers and two upper body machines. The Rec Center was also able to hold a cardio equipment demonstration in the fall, and student feedback helped identify equipment that needed to be replaced and the brands students preferred.

The remaining portion of the Fee is allocated to wellness programming and student activities. Porterfield defined wellness programming to include Billikens After Dark, drug and alcohol education, community health services and other wellness programs.

Around $100,000 a year goes to SGA for the purpose of student wellness fee activities. Due to the success of many of SLU’s club sports teams, some of the money is being used to fund travel and participation costs for the teams. SGA President Courtney Anvender said another idea being discussed is using part of the Fee as start-up money for a turf field.

Student discussions about how the Fee should be allocated will continue as funds accumulate. “[The fee] is there to be capital money for the students. Once money starts building up, we’ll have a little bit of wiggle room,” Anvender said.

Allocation recommendations are made by a committee comprised of Student Development staff members and student representatives.

“It’s a half and half committee and if [students] didn’t want something, I think we would strike a compromise,” Anvender said. “It’s a good balance and we have a good relationship.”

Porterfield agrees that the committee structure creates a dialog with students about the Fee, and in the future students can be more involved in the discussion. “Right now we’re trying to fund what we have,” Porterfield said. “There will be a time when we can say ‘what’s really important to you about wellness and student health.’”

The fee structure also ensures the funds will continue to support these purposes. “We always pay for the services in some way,” Porterfield said. If they are added as a tuition allocation, they compete with everything else in the budget, but a fee can be designated for a particular use.

According to Anvender, this Fee in particular is a benefit to the whole community because of everything the Fee can cover. She said it makes SLU a campus where doors are open and students are more likely to use the services offered by the Rec Center and SHCS.

“It really is a benefit to the community that the students who need help are receiving help,” Anvender said. “It’s truly a community Wellness Fee.”