Regents OK student fee hike for UNR fitness center

RENO — Student fees are going up next year for undergraduates at the University of Nevada to help pay for construction of a new $46 million dollar fitness center for students, faculty and staff.

The fee doesn’t apply to graduate students. Others will pay $15 more a semester beginning next fall. That increases to $45 per semester in 2016 under the mandatory fees approved Friday by the state Board of Regents.

UNR Vice President Ron Zurek tells the Reno Gazette-Journal the fees will help generate about $9 million in bonding capacity to build the four-story E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center in what is currently a parking lot just south of the Lawlor Events Center.

It will include multi-use recreational rooms, workout machines, three full-size basketball courts and a 200-meter running track.