Funding University Athletics Programs

There has been traditionally common myth that athletics programs boosts university profiles, enhance fund raising, and attract more students. However, research shows that this not the case and very few institutions make profits out of athletic programs while most of them are funded by students’ ancillary fees and government subsidies. Always rising expenses of higher education have been a serious concern for Government officials, Tuition paying students and their parents. Although ancillary costs on the top of tuition fee are increasing at 13% higher rate than the original fee, yet the debates always focus on tuition fee only when it comes to cutting costs. The truth is that major part of the ancillary fees goes to athletics programs. Most of the educational institutions have been found to charge athletic fee to the students who are even against the athletics programs, however, the university billing system is not kept that transparent at majority universities so that they don’t know about what they are paying for.

Cutting on the athletic program fee has been proven to stop the athletic programs because if students are not charged for athletics programs, the university had to pay millions of dollars extra in order to run the athletic program without government and students’ fee subsidies. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, in order to transit to division I athletic school raised its athletics fee from $113 in 2005 to $352.80 in 2013. An analysis of contribution of students’ fee in the athletic program revenues for 5 fiscal years (2009 – 2013) shows that students fee contributes from 27% to 59% of the total revenues of athletic programs in different higher education institutions.

This shows that athletic programs despite some of their benefits are mostly a burden on the students and government because their revenues now a days are exceeding their expenses and all the burden is being transferred to the tuition paying students and government.