This year, the University’s Campus Recreation team — commonly known as CampusRec — will formalize the process of covering membership dues for “students who have found there to be a specific financial barrier to accessing a club,” according to Jessica Ward, the Senior Associate Director of Athletics for CampusRec,.
Previously, CampusRec allocated a portion of its budget to cover club expense costs for students in financial need as part of an informal initiative. Club sports are generally encouraged to collect dues to offset club expenses.
“This is an established initiative, not a new one,” Ward said. Membership dues that exceed $75/semester or are $150/year are currently eligible for CampusRec coverage.
The formalization of this process is expected to “improve awareness of these coverage opportunities to ensure it benefits our Sport Club program more broadly,” said Ward.
CampusRec will cover team dues upfront for an individual. For individual membership coverage for a governing body, such as a club sport leadership, the membership will be reimbursed after the time of purchase.
Ward emphasized that all Sport Club Executive Board members are available to assist students understand the formalized process.
“The information on this program has been provided to all Sport Club Executive Board members to distribute out to their general membership,” Ward wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Qualifying members are encouraged to work with their team’s Executive Board to better understand the reimbursement process to ensure timely re-payment.”
“We think this initiative aligns well within Princeton‘s commitment to offering a multitude of extracurricular activities to our community and making sure everyone is aware of the options available,” Ward added.
When asked about whether federal budget cuts will affect student dues coverage, Ward responded that CampusRec would “continue to monitor how the allocated funds are ultimately used and make necessary adjustments based on student usage.”
For Princeton’s club tennis team, CampusRec’s decision will be a welcome support for their members. Sabrina Yeung ’26, co-president of the club tennis team, said that membership dues are extremely important for funding the club’s activities.
Yeung added that these costs have not seemed to deter prospective members from joining the team. “Usually, we are quite flexible as a club when it comes to dues if people ask to extend their payment date,” Yeung said.
According to Yeung, the team works well with CampusRec to ensure full transparency about the opportunity for support for the membership fees.“Whenever we do tryouts or send out email, we’ll say that there are dues, but if you are on financial aid, Campus Rec will cover, and we’ll make sure that it’s communicated clearly.”
Other clubs said that there will be relatively little effect on their programs.
Godwin Duan ’26, the president of club swimming, said that the club is currently considering raising dues to cover high lifeguard costs. However, CampusRec’s initiative will not affect their members, as the dues are not expected to be raised above $75, Duan explained.
Meanwhile, the club ski and snowboard team currently does not impose any dues on its members. But co-President Logan McCarroll ’26 said that the team is now considering imposing them in order to help cover some of the housing and food costs for the team’s competitions. Currently, the University funding only covers transportation and competition fees.
“We get a certain amount from Princeton each year…we try to use it as sparingly as possible and take as many people as we can to races and trips. The University usually covers transportation, Lyft tickets, and race fees. Members have always paid for housing and food,” McCarroll said.
Regardless of the effect on club teams, CampusRec believes that this initiative is consistent with the University’s aim to create a varied and accessible extracurricular program.
“We hope all members of Princeton’s student body know we’re here to work with them on how they can participate,” Ward wrote.
Andrew Arthur is a staff News writer from London, England on general assignment.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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