The soft comfort of drying off after a tough workout or a good swim has become a little bit pricier for the students at Case Western Reserve University.

Before this year, the Veale Center lent towels to students free of cost. Now, the Athletics Department has changed its policy, requiring a $40 per year locker rental for towel service.

“The department wanted to offer members and users a better quality towel,” said Director of Athletics Amy Backus. “In order to do so, the decision was made that towel service would be available to those users purchasing a locker.”

“One could equate this change with similar policies adopted years ago in hotels asking customers to reuse towels to help save water and detergent,” she continued. “The $40 per year for a towel and locker turns out to be approximately 11 cents a day.”

However, the eleven cents a day figure only applies if a student were to rent their locker for the entire year, from July 1 to June 30, and use a towel every one of those 365 days.

However, a typical student is only on campus for roughly 238 days, calculated from three days prior to the start of both terms until one day after the end of exams. If a student worked out and used a towel every day, this price breaks down to 7 cents per day. If a student only worked out three times a week, which is much more likely with CWRU student schedules, the cost increases to 42 cents per day.

Faculty and staff pay $75 per locker, and facility card holders, such as alumni, family members and community members, pay $95, increasing the cost even more.

Thinking of waiting to get a locker until next semester? Working out three times a week, at the discounted one semester rate of $35, the cost would go up to 71 cents per towel.