This fall, all Kennesaw State University students will begin paying a $35 fee each semester to help pay for a new sports and recreation park.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the fee on Tuesday.

The fee will also help finance construction of an 8,300-seat soccer stadium within the sports park. Upon its completion, the park will feature seven competition fields, 4,683 feet of nature and hiking trails, sand volleyball courts and a 12-acre lake.

The school opened the first phase of the park in September. It features a 16,000-square-foot training facility known as the Owl's Nest and two fields of artificial turf.

The new recreational complex - located on 88 acres of land at the corner of George Busbee Parkway and Big Shanty Road in Kennesaw - will help the university accommodate the recreational and intramural needs of the university's 22,300 students, KSU spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said.

Daniel Street, 20, president of KSU's student government association, said his group supported the fee - which is mandatory for all students - because members believe it creates "tremendous potential for our already thriving campus life."

"This expansion creates incredible opportunities for our intramural sports, club sports and intercollegiate athletics departments," said Street, a senior accounting major from Woodstock.

Unlike varsity sports, which are competitive and are governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, intramural and club sports are more accessible to all students. About 2,200 KSU students participate in intramural and club sports -- about six times as many students playing NCAA sports -- and that number is expected to increase dramatically with the new facilities.

In the past three years, the university's intramural and club sports program has experienced more than a 30 percent increase in participation. Basketball and softball are among the most popular intramural sports at KSU; lacrosse and rugby are the most popular club sports.

Previously, KSU had only a 1.7-acre field on the main campus for its 22,300 students. Many club teams had to practice in fields as far away as Woodstock and Alpharetta for lack of facilities, DeMel said.

The new stadium will also be home to the Atlanta Beat Women's Professional Soccer team, in a partnership with the KSU Foundation that was announced in December.