Between classes, jobs and extracurriculars — more often than not, college students tend to put exercise on the backburner.
For I.N., a third-year student at UC Santa Cruz, integrating a yoga physical education class into their schedule was the perfect option.
“I found it to be a really great opportunity,” I.N. said. “Staying active isn’t something that’s accessible to people all the time, especially yoga. People pay a lot to get classes from an instructor, and it was really nice to be able to do that through school for free.”
But now, I.N. and all other UCSC students do not have the opportunity to enroll in this class.
In the spring, the athletics and recreation department announced to instructors that both yoga and martial arts PE classes would no longer be offered to students as of fall 2025. To counteract the cuts, there has been an addition in the amount of FitLife classes, which is the university’s reservation-based group exercise class program.
Donald Bard, a former yoga PE instructor and current FitLife instructor, spoke to the difference between PE classes and FitLife classes. He said that the 10-week long courses were more comprehensive, and allowed for students to develop yoga skills throughout the quarter, while classes offered by FitLife appealed to students looking for a quicker workout.
Due to these cuts, Bard and another former instructor, Henry Heikkinen, created two new FitLife classes called “Beginning Yoga Skills” and “Intermediate Yoga Skills,” respectively, to mimic the continuity that the previous classes provided for students. Heikkinen spoke to the difficulty of simulating a welcoming environment for beginners in the FitLife classes.
“By design, some of those [FitLife] classes are challenging. We think that we’re very inclusive in what we offer, but let’s face it, some of those classes are hard,” Heikkinen said.
For martial arts, there are less total classes being offered than the previous academic year. In spring 2025, there were eight total PE classes per week, but now there are only two FitLife classes per week.
FitLife class times also change each quarter. Oftentimes students are unable to work FitLife classes into their schedule.
“I could incorporate [PE classes] into my schedule as opposed to trying to work around my schedule now to attend these FitLife classes. I have not been able to attend as many as I would like to,” I.N. said. “That definitely upsets me because last year it was just part of my schedule to attend the classes every week.”
Ashley Brose, a third-year student, also spoke to the accessibility of the workout classes.
“It’s hard for people to access gym memberships, workout classes or yoga studios, and with the UCSC gym you’re waiting outside in line for like 30 minutes before you can get in and use the facility,” she said. “I think it’s really unfortunate that a lot of students are having trouble accessing ways to exercise through the department, and who knows what else is being cut.”
City on a Hill Press reached out to various athletics department administrators, as well as Assistant Vice Chancellor Scott Hernandez-Jason to learn more about how these cuts may be related to the structural budget deficit. Despite following up twice with both sources, administrators and Hernandez-Jason did not respond by the publication date.
Bard says that the future of yoga at the university remains unclear, and spoke to how the yoga community is determined to continue serving students as it has since 1978.
“Yoga has been present on the UCSC campus for all the time that I’ve been there, it’s very sad,” he said. “We’ve got a number of years to go through before our financial situation improves, and the way it looks, we may actually be looking at more cuts in the next year or two as well.”
