If you are perturbed that you have to give up a quarter for a towel at the Ping Center, just wait until you hear this.

The $65 fee you were paying to use the Ping Center isn't just going to Ping. Instead it is going toward intramural sports, the Aquatic Center and student recreation, among other places.

Now university officials are proposing a $4 increase in students' quarterly Ping fee because of an across-the-board 3-percent increase in university salaries and operating expenses.

The university will get an additional $212,000 from the $4 increase. The increase in Ping's salaries will cost $230,000.

Although the administration said the fee's use was not intended to be secretive, we feel cheated because students were not told. The students did not ask exactly where their money for the Ping fee would go, and the administration did not tell. We didn't think we had a reason to ask. We thought wrong.

Student Senate, as well as The Post, endorsed the fee in 1992, because it was supposed pay for a student recreation center. But that promise fell through. Although students use the center, the fee and management was taken out of students' hands.

The question is why the Ping Center fee, which we are paying for every quarter, is not supporting itself.

The $65 fee is not going solely to the Ping Center. Some of the money is going to intramural sports, club sports, student recreation, Bird Arena and the Aquatic Center. In case you didn't notice, after the Ping Center was completed, if you wanted to participate in an intramural sport or use the pool, you no longer had to pay because the Ping fee covered the cost. Now you know why.

It is embarrassing that a large publicly funded university has so many problems with its own student recreation center, such as the recent lawsuit. How are we supposed to react when the administration now proposes renovations to Bentley Hall and the construction of a multi-cultural center?

The money from the Ping fee does many good things. Many students are satisfied with the services provided by the Ping Center, and it's a great recruiting tool. Instead of charging every student for the Aquatic Center and intramural sports, charge the students who actually use these facilities. Raising the general fee will not help the average student, only a select percentage.

Granted, paying an extra $4 every quarter is not going to keep us from buying that new Lamborghini, but it is the principle of the matter. If the administration wants us to be respectful of the university, it needs to be respectful of the students, too.

A mission for meter money

Next time your parking meter runs out, don't dismiss the ticket with, "It's only $2," because you may be in for a surprise.

The cost of parking tickets may be raised if the city council approves the increase to $5 for payment during the first 48 hours and $10 for payment after that time. Our question is, where is our hard-earned money going?

If the money is being used to find a solution for the parking problem, then we have no problem shelling out an extra few dollars. If the money is going into the general Athens City fund, then we have a problem. Money from parking should go to help parking.

There is a solution. If we all make an effort, we can alleviate the parking problem. If you live on Mill Street or on West Green, you do not have to drive to class. Leave the parking spaces for shoppers or even better yet, for people who work Uptown.