“SSCE not only has to cover its own costs,” says Max van Veen, manager of the Eindhoven Student Sports Center, “we also have to deal with government policy.” He means that a university cannot simply spend public money on private purposes such as sports.

TU/e is not allowed to use government funding intended for education and research to offer students and staff subsidized access to sports facilities. The ministry planned to enforce this more strictly from 2026 onwards, but that met with resistance.

A year later, Minister Letschert says that sports and culture make an essential contribution to the public mission of educational institutions by promoting “students’ wellbeing, social connectedness and personal development.”

Those who can afford it

However, this only applies to students and staff. When it comes to retired TU/e employees, alumni and employees of companies on campus – the so-called external users – Van Veen cannot ignore the distinction.

“We are allowed to subsidize students and staff. We subsidize students more than staff, because staff members are better able to bear the costs than students. This does not apply to external users: from the government’s perspective, we have to charge them either a market-based or a full-cost price. We have opted for the latter,” says the manager.

As a result, staff will pay 199 euros a year, an increase of 42 euros, while external users will pay 480 euros for their sports card this year, instead of 230 or 360 euros.

Still inexpensive

“We didn’t raise prices during the renovation of the sports center, but the major investment and rising personnel costs now force us to charge more. Even so, together with Wageningen and Groningen, we are still among the cheapest university sports centers. Most cities charge close to 200 euros,” says Van Veen. “We operate at the lowest possible price.”

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.