The University needs more money – about a nice $36 million, to be exact.

Yes, yes, I know. $36 million dollars is quite a hefty sum of money. But apparently, that’s just how much it’s going to cost our University to construct the most recently announced facilities project on campus, the Stroh Center.

And of course, they’re going to make us assist in paying for it. But this isn’t such a bad thing, at least from my point of view.

Yes, I like my money. I like it when I get to keep my money and I don’t have to give it to the University. That makes me happy. Even better, sometimes the University gives me money back as a refund check. That makes me extra happy.

But what do you think about the opposite of getting money back? How about an additional 50 dollars per semester tacked onto our existing college bills? Is this really necessary to help fund the costs of constructing this building?

Well, it’s not a case of the University giving me back money. I can assure you of that. The University needs our help (money-wise). So we have to pay.

Despite my childish remarks, I personally believe an additional $50 every semester is a meager price to pay for the much-welcomed publicity and revenue that a new basketball center would bring to our University.

Given the sorry state of some of our existing campus facilities – I have had rain fall on my head while inside Moseley Hall – a bright and shiny new basketball center could be a rather significant boon to this institution.

That’s why the University is planning on building it, after all.

Although I earnestly believe money used by an educational institution should be put toward academics first and athletics second, this new basketball arena could play an important role in making our campus a more appealing place, both to existing students and future ones.

Besides, this kind of thing shows that our administration actually cares about the state of our campus’s buildings.

Facilities such as University Hall and Anderson Arena are older buildings which show their deteriorated states quite well (that’s a bad thing, by the way), so the Stroh Center could help revitalize our school’s image and make it less apparent that some of our campus facilities are literally falling apart.

Ever been inside South Hall? I heard that it was actually condemned and slated for demolition at one point. But it was never torn down. And I’ve had two classes inside of it since coming here. Hmmmm “

At any rate, the University needs more of our money to fund its latest construction project, and we students have no choice but to assist. It’s our University, so our money goes toward improving and funding it.

That’s the way it is, and that’s the way it will always be. Duh.

But it should also be known that the University is implementing this new fee out of necessity. The Stroh Center is a multimillion-dollar facility which requires financial support from a number of different sources, hence the new fee.

Unlike the upcoming Wolfe Center for the Arts, which is paid for by state funding, the Stroh Center needs additional private donations and student-paid fees in order to be completed. So, this new fee is not some frivolous scheme for the University to rip off its students.

It’s a plan to raise a couple million dollars per year (from said fees) in order to revitalize our campus, update our athletic facilities and improve the University’s image as a whole.

Then, hopefully some of the revenue generated by this new building will fund future projects at the University to improve our academic facilities and programs.

So is $100 more per year too much to ask to help get our University back on track? I don’t think so.