George Mason University

Student Access

Mason Recreation receives daily updates from the Registrar’s Office concerning student enrollment status. Actively enrolled students have the opportunity to access the facilities prior to the first day of classes and after the last day of exams for each respective term.

• Students who wish to access the Mason Recreation facilities during a given term must be enrolled in either a full or part-time capacity by the first day of the term. If a student does not have active course enrollment on the first day of the term, they are not eligible for student level access.

Full-time Students

• Students who are classified as full-time by the Registrar’s Office receive a Mason Recreation membership and access to the facilities free of charge.

Part-time Fees and Date Ranges

• Students who are classified as part-time may purchase a semester-based membership for access. Semester membership prices and the date ranges for access are listed below.
  • ADVANCE students are considered part-time and may purchase a semester-based membership for access.
• Payment Methods
  • Visa, Mastercard, check, or Mason Money at the front desk of the Recreation Athletic Complex, Aquatic & Fitness Center, and Skyline Fitness Center.
  • Visa or Mastercard through the online portal.

Semester	Date Range	Cost
Fall	August 16 - December 31	$55.00
Spring	January 1 - May 15	$55.00
*Summer	May 16 - August 15	$30.00

*During the Summer Term, a course load of at least 1 credit is considered full-time by Mason Recreation and thus, membership and access to the facilities is free of charge. Students without course enrollment for the summer term that were enrolled in either a full-time or part-time capacity during the preceding spring term and have not graduated may purchase a $30 membership for access during the summer.

NOTE: Students for whom the upcoming fall term is their first term at Mason will need to contact Membership Services in order to be entered into the access system database before they will be able to purchase the $30 membership.

Non-Degree Seeking Students

Non-degree students who are enrolled for at least 12 credits at the undergraduate level or 9 credits at the graduate level are provided a Mason Recreation membership during the fall and spring terms at no additional charge. Students who are below these thresholds are eligible to purchase a semester-based membership for access. Like degree seeking students, non-degree students who are enrolled for at least one credit of coursework during the summer term receive a Mason Recreation membership at no additional charge.

Pending Full-Time Time Status

• Each semester, Mason Recreation bases full-time student membership on whether a student has an official time status of FT from the Registrar’s Office. Since the transfer of data from the Registrar’s Office to Mason Recreation only occurs once per day (around 2AM), changes to a student’s time status made after 2AM are not recognized in the facility access system until the next day.
  • Example: If a student is officially listed as part-time (i.e. Registrar’s time-status of HT or LT) on Monday at 3PM, and they register for a full-time course load at 4PM that day, Mason Recreation’s access system will not reflect that change until 2AM on the next day. If the student in this situation wishes to access the Mason Recreation facilities, they must inform the customer service assistant that they made the transition to full-time on that day.
• There are many situations where a student’s time-status may not be converted to full-time for an extended period of time. Common examples of this are:
  • Student is wait listed for course. Wait listed courses do not count towards time status.
  • Student is waiting on instructor or departmental approval for course enrollment.
  • Student is waiting on financial aid or scholarship money to complete course enrollment.
• In these cases and other cases where current time status is part-time and full-time time status is pending, Mason Recreation’s policy is to allow only one (1) free entrance. After that free entrance is used, if full-time time status is still pending, the student must purchase a membership for access to the facilities ($10 day pass, $55 semester membership during fall/spring, or $30 semester membership during summer).
• These payments will be fully refunded if/when the student’s time-status changes to full-time. Once the student’s time-status changes to full-time, he or she should contact Membership Services to initiate the refund process.
• Persons who have no active enrollment at the time of visiting the Mason Recreation facilities, but pending part-time or full-time time status, may use the one free entrance, but must purchase a $10 day pass for any subsequent accesses when time status is not resolved.
  • *The part-time student membership may not be purchased when time status is inactive.

Time Status Exceptions

There are some situations when a student’s time status may officially be part-time (HT or LT) but Mason Recreation will waive the part-time student fee. These situations and any additional actions needed by the student are listed below:

• The student is at the end of their degree program and needs less than a full-time course load to complete their degree. Students in this situation should speak with their advisor or program coordinator to have them send confirmation of graduation following completion of the current semester Membership Services. This is a one-time membership override and cannot be renewed or re-registered.
• The student has a program or departmental restriction on course load. Some departments place limits on the number of credits that a student can enroll in because of the work load of extracurricular on non-credit requirements (example: student teaching). If a student is on departmental or program restriction, that student should speak with their advisor or program coordinator to have them send confirmation to Membership Services.
• The student withdraws from coursework with 100% tuition liability. Students who had a full-time course load after the last day to drop classes with full or partial tuition refund and then withdrew from a class leaving them with part-time status should contact Membership Services.
  • NOTE: This is the only case in which Mason Recreation will permit student membership to a person with no active time status.
• The student is a senior citizen auditing coursework under the Senior Citizen Waiver Program. Senior citizens who are auditing coursework as non-degree students and are not paying tuition fees may receive Mason Recreation membership at no additional charge. Students in this situation should contact the Membership Services at the beginning of each fall and spring term that they are enrolled (a manual override is not needed for senior citizens auditing coursework during the summer term).
• The student is a graduate student taking undergraduate courses. Graduate students who have less than 9 graduate course credits but 9 or more total credits (e.g. 6 graduate credits and 3 undergraduate credits) will have an official time status of part-time. However, Mason Recreation will provide a membership free of charge in these cases. Students in this situation should contact Membership Services.
• The student is registered for full-time credits but is auditing one or more courses resulting in an official time-status of part-time. Mason Recreation will provide a membership free of charge in these cases. Students in this situation should contact Membership Services.

Faculty/Staff Who Are Also Taking Classes

• In Mason Recreation’s facility access database, faculty/staff status always supersedes student status for an individual’s display profile. However, there are situations where a person who is both faculty/staff and a student can opt for the student-level access (free for full-time or $55 for part-time)
• Actively employed full-time and part-time faculty/staff members who are also taking classes (as part of a degree program or non-degree) are subject to the faculty/staff membership rate if they are utilizing an employee tuition waiver for their tuition.
• Faculty/staff members who are paying their own tuition or whose tuition is being paid by a grant, may opt for the student option which is appropriate for their time status. Persons in this situation should contact Membership Services.

Graduate Assistants, Masters Students, and Doctoral Students

Graduate students are considered full-time if they are enrolled in at least 9 graduate credits per semester.

Graduate students on assistantship, enrolled in thesis credits, or enrolled in dissertation credits may be considered full-time with less than 9 graduate credits per semester. See Graduate Policy AP.6.2 “Full-Time and Half-Time Status Classification” for more details. In these circumstances, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure an official time status of FT from the Registrar’s office for purposes of free Mason Recreation full-time student membership.

• In these cases and other cases where current time status is part-time and full-time time-status is pending, Mason Recreation’s policy is to allow only one (1) free entrance. After that free entrance is used, if full-time time status is still pending, the student must pay up front for access to the facilities ($10 per day, or $55 semester fee during fall/spring, or $30 summer fee during summer).
• These fees will be fully refunded if/when the student’s time status changes to full-time. Once the student’s time status changes to F=full-time, they should contact Membership Services to initiate the refund process.

Student Additional Members

Those that live in the same household as active Mason Recreation student members receive a special rate to purchase a Mason Recreation membership.

Membership	Semester	Price
Additional Adult Member	Fall/Spring	$135.00
	Summer	$90.00

Additional Member

• The additional member must be at least 18 years old and a legal resident of the same household as the sponsoring member. The sponsoring member must have an active membership for the additional adult to be eligible. Both members must be present at the time of the in-person sale. A list of acceptable proof of address documents that can be used to establish residency at the time of membership purchase can be found on the Polices and More Page.

Parking Permits

• Additional Members are eligible to purchase a General Lot parking permit with the purchase of a semester membership at $15.

Membership Fee Payment

• Semester membership fees must be paid in full at the time of enrollment.