Last fall, I interned back home in the Bay Area. One day, as my mom and I were strolling around Stanford University’s campus, we stopped at the Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center, where Stanford’s outdoor programs are based.
When I stepped inside, I was blown away: AOERC had a huge, two-story lobby, plentiful bookshelves and sitting areas, racks full of outdoor paraphernalia and a full climbing gym. A blackboard behind the front desk advertised climbing, day-hiking, backpacking and paddling trips at storied California outdoor destinations from Big Sur to the Sierra Nevada.
My mom asked the two employees at the front desk about the AOERC’s trip offerings. They explained the trips’ destinations and formats, then mentioned that day trips cost $50 and overnight trips cost $125.
As I reflected on these costs, I came to be outraged. I was used to Dartmouth’s outdoor programs, where trips during terms, club dinners, outdoor gear rentals, cabin rentals and more are all completely free for students. Dartmouth made these changes piecemeal in its journey through COVID-19 lockdown, but as a member of the Class of 2026, I’ve only ever known a Dartmouth Outing Club where students can viably participate without paying a dime. In comparison, seeing Stanford’s outdoor experiences behind such high paywalls left me deeply disheartened.
Later, I looked more into Stanford’s outdoor recreation prices. Many of their upcoming winter trips are even more expensive — up to $200 for a weekend. Moreover, before you can even sign up, Stanford’s trip program requires a paid membership, costing students $20 per year. Stanford’s gear rentals are also paid, and are only discounted for students, staff and faculty if they pay the membership.
Unfortunately, while Stanford’s prices are particularly high, charging for outdoor experiences is the norm among American universities. Other top schools with big outdoor programs do it, too: Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s outing club charges for gear rentals and requires a $15 yearly membership. Harvard University’s outing club charges students for trips’ basic expenses on top of a $20 six-month membership. Columbia University — farther from major outdoor destinations — has a small student-run hiking club that charges undergraduates $25 and others $35 per season. The University of Chicago’s smaller adventure club charges for gear rentals and requires a $10 membership.
These fees are not unique to elite schools — the top three biggest U.S. public universities charge for their outdoor programs as well. Arizona State University’s outdoor club membership costs $30 for the spring semester. Texas A&M University charges between $21 and $89 for day trips and $95 to $573 for weekend trips. To its credit, Rutgers University keeps its programs much cheaper, but still charges a minimum of $5 per trip. Except for Dartmouth, every single university I researched charges students for core parts of its outdoor program.
The existence of these fees does the exact opposite of what I believe a university’s outdoor program should strive for. First, instead of introducing new people to outdoor recreation, these fees discourage anyone who didn’t grow up recreating outdoors from trying it out. This means people won’t find the sport that might have been their passion, won’t receive the physical and mental health benefits of the outdoors and won’t learn the environmentalism that outdoor recreation can kindle. Second, the outdoor recreation space can already be inaccessible to people without significant disposable incomes, and steep trip, membership and gear fees only exacerbate this. It’s worst when it comes to gear — the students who can’t afford to purchase their own outdoor equipment are the ones who will need to pay the bulk of the rental fees. Thus these outright regressive paywalls are part of what keeps the outdoor community from moving past the elitism that plagues it at its worst.
I hope all universities’ outdoor programs can move toward making their offerings free. Dartmouth does it mostly through outdoor-specific endowments, and I believe that elite schools with even greater financial resources than Dartmouth should also strive to finance their outdoor programs by endowment. Even at universities with fewer resources, though, I contend that directly subsidizing outdoor programs to allow people to try new outdoor sports would be well worth university money — unlike the current fee systems, this at least wouldn’t be regressive.
I knew Dartmouth was lucky to be so close to outdoor destinations like the Connecticut River and the White Mountains. Until seeing Stanford’s AOERC, I didn’t know how lucky we were to be able to experience them largely for free. I’m prouder than ever to be part of the DOC, and if you’re involved, I hope you are, too. If you aren’t involved, you’re always welcome to join our trips this winter on the DOC Trailhead Website — they’re free, and I’d love to see you there!
Levi Konrad-Shankland ‘26 is a leader of the Dartmouth Outing Club. Guest columns represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
