The way each California State University campus operates its recreational sports is as unique as the campus itself, with participation, enrollment and even geographic factors all playing a part. Below is just a snapshot of the varying approaches around the state.

SF State

Each student pays a $55 Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) fee every semester, with $2 of that going to the Recreational Sports Program (RSP), which includes Open Gym, Club Sports and intramural sports. The Kinesiology Department recently proposed a $7 increase to avoid making cuts and stay within the RSP’s $120,000 budget.

Around 3,525 of SF State’s 30,000 students take part in recreational sports on campus. Current intramural sports are basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball and team tennis, while Club Sports include Tae Kwon Do, Ultimate Frisbee and fencing, to name a few.

CSU Monterey Bay

CSUMB is a young campus with less than 4,000 students, so there hasn’t been much participation in intramural sports, said CSUMB’s intramural sports director Amber Magner.

The campus’ varsity sports teams recently moved up into the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and with the jump came a referendum to fund intramural sports. The department now collects $5 of a $25 IRA fee each semester.

“To be honest ... we’re still trying to find out what [the students] want, so right now, [the funding] is sufficient,” Magner said. “If we have a lot more involvement than what we’re getting now, it will probably need to be upped a little bit.”

“Our biggest issue is facilities and space,” she added. “We only have one gym, and classes, athletic teams and intramurals all use that one gym. It can get a little difficult.”

Intramural sports include basketball, soccer, ultimate Frisbee and flag football.

Like most CSUs, club sports are a separate department and in CSUMB’s case, operated by the student activities office. Magner said the recent referendum helps students fund their own club sports, which include tennis, volleyball, golf, martial arts, baseball and rugby, as well as typical Monterey Bay recreational sports such as sailing, scuba diving and kayaking.

Humboldt State

Humboldt’s 7,435 students also pay an IRA fee, which is $250 per semester during spring and fall. A portion of this helps fund club sports, which operates at an annual budget of $53,000.

Club sports are varied, with fencing, cheerleading, crew and cycling among the listed.

However, intramural sports, which include soccer, basketball, softball and flag football, gets its $22,000 annual funding directly from the Kinesiology and Recreation Administration’s operating budget.

But recreation sports director Jan Henry said that’s generally not sufficient.

“It’s never enough, of course,” she said.

“We have to fundraise through tournaments, and our club sports must also fundraise to supplement their budgets.”

Cal State L.A.

Cal State LA enrolled around 20,000 students last fall, but has low participation in intramural sports because of the few students living on campus.

“When students leave here, they go downtown and they don’t come back at night,” intramural and recreational sports director Ryan Hubbard said.

Though the campus doesn’t offer club sports, Hubbard has to find $30,000 a year to fund intramural sports, which include flag football, soccer and basketball.

“We have to put in a request to the school and write a whole rationale,” he said. “We get our money that way.”

The money, when approved, comes from IRA fees. However, Hubbard said about two-thirds pays the campus pool’s life guards, and if the school expanded its intramural sports program, it would be underfunded.

“We’re working with our student government to see if we can get more funding and to raise participation,” he said.

Chico State

Like Monterey Bay, Chico State passed a referendum that established an IRA fee to fund its athletics, including varsity, intramural and club sports. Around $10 of the $60 per-semester fee goes to club and intramural sports.

Chico has 17 “competitive” clubs outside of varsity sports, including field hockey, rugby, water polo and water-skiing.

These collect $63,000 a year from IRA fees, which covers 22 percent of operating costs, said department director Mary Wallmark. The remainder comes from fundraising and “team dues.”

Chico also enjoys a separate intramural sports program which is funded through the IRA fees and “general fund dollars,” said director Curtis Sicheneder.

Sicheneder’s department usually receives over $50,000, depending on enrollment. Most of this is spent on supervisor and student wages, as well as “extensive summer sports programs throughout the community.”

“We could always use more,” Sicheneder said. “We are planning a new [recreation] center so I’m anticipating a need to increase.”