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Collegiate Recreational Sports Facility Benchmarking Study update

Valuable data will result in planning guide

NIRSA has been working with the National Research Institute for College Recreational Sports & Wellness on a “square foot per student” approach for recreational facility needs. Nearly 200 colleges and universities reported on the current sizes of their indoor and outdoor facilities, as well as the sizes they felt they really needed in order to accommodate users. Data was gathered on indoor spaces (court/racquet space, locker room facilities, fitness, group exercise and multi-use facilities), climbing and outdoor adventure facilities, aquatics facilities and outdoor sports facilities and areas. The data will be presented by enrollment categories for small schools (under 3,000), medium schools (3,000-9,999), larger schools (10,000-19,999) and very large schools (more than 20,000).

The Research Institute has returned the data, and an expert panel of NIRSA Members is currently working on transforming the data into a user-friendly planning guide that colleges and universities can use when building or expanding their recreational facilities.

The final stage will be to publish the data along with an Executive Summary and instructions on how to utilize the data for specific institutional planning. These published results are expected to be available by 2008.