Northeastern university made a good decision recently. They cut their football program. After examination of the budget Northeastern's Athletic Director, Peter Roby made the tough choice to simply cut an entire sports program because it was too expensive to maintain. Bravo; common sense in tough times. College costs are rising, 439% since 1982, that is 4 times the rate of inflation. How much of that can be attributed to maintaining or upgrading sports facilities. Yes, a winning college team may bring in financial revenue, but how many teams are truly competitive at the top level? Are colleges investing an equitable amount into improving labs, theaters, or health centers? With two children heading to college back to back I'm neck deep in the financial aid process. When I visit a college with my son, I make an appointment with the financial aid office. The first question I ask is what is my child going to receive that is worth $30,000 a year? If the answer is "we have a great football team," then the college is not for him.
State university systems were always considered a less expensive option than a private college. State budget cuts are felt at these institutions as well. The University of California Regents recently announced a 38% hike in tuition. The University of Maine system predicts a 5% increase for 2010, on top of a 10% increase for the current school year. This prediction however does not factor in our Governor Baldacci's announcement a day later calling for an immediate cut of 6 million dolars.
We are often focused on k12 education. We all know budgets are only going to get tighter. Class size will increase and facilities will go without needed repair. I wonder; we constantly push for reform that will allow for every student to graduate and go on to college. But, with tuition rising exponentially, will our students be able to afford college?
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Hello Allyson-
ReplyDeleteI think it must of been a tough call to end the football program. I mean many people feel sports programs are over rated and that a lot of money is wasted on them at colleges but sports do provide positives things to many students that would not get an education otherwise. Alright, I will get off my soapbox now. It is unfortuniate that higher ed has to raise tuition. What is the solution? Student loans or the military or scholarships. That is what must of my friends and myself had to do. I do think as the economy gets better there as to be a tuition freeze or colleges will go under and cut more programs. Great topic for week 15.
I may be coming from a biased approach as well being a present football coach and past college football player, but I will offer a different point of view. I don't have the references to back this up, but with Title 9 and equal opportunities to everyone I am pretty sure that all sports get funded the same as all others regardless of the number of participants. Alot of the improvements in stadiums are from sponsorships, grants, private funding or donations. Along with this, football programs are historically the programs that bring in the most revenue for the schools. This is why so many football programs flourish and are kept around. I understand that they do need to be cut at times, but my bet is that the football program does not get anymore money than the arts, volleyball, or other academic departments.
ReplyDeletePhilip
To make money, you have to spend money. However, with the Northeastern situation, they have simply not invested their time, effort, and money over the past decade to make anything of their football program. Yeah, to them it makes sense, but you may start to see a decrease in enrollment because of not having a football program. Say what you will about athletics, but it generates cash flow for schools. Our state superintendent has already said she may need schools to cut another 39 million out of the state budget by June 30, 2010, but do you think they will cut the high school football? Of course not, there is revenue in it. These teams get money to play other schools, if Northeastern had put money into the program in the past 20 years and played challenging teams, then it could have been profitable. My thinking is, even if your team is not that great, if you have a great marketing plan, you can generate cash flow. The college will end up losing much more than the $1 million/year price tag they were paying to keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI have a difficult time with this. Increase cost of everything is a part of life and we as the purchasers have to deal with it. The cost to run a school has goes up every year, so they will need to raise there tution. Look at the cost of college 5,10,15,20 years ago. The cost to go is not the same. It is a part of life to take out a loan and to pay it back. I don't think a school should cut programs because they don't want to raise tution. Every year, thing cost different (i.e. gas prices).
ReplyDeleteI feel that sports and other electives are a great way to bring money into a college. I look at NDSU, their games bring in money. I also see students in activites become more organized both academically and personally.