This year has forced many of us to look at our student budgets and make changes for a variety of reasons. We've seen increases in tuition, delays in aid disbursement and record unemployment in a sluggish economy.
A big chunk of our tuition goes toward the comprehensive fee, instituted in 1998. According to the UB website, over $43 million is pulled out of the fee, and over $7 million of that goes to athletics. The only area that draws more funding is technology.
In recent years, a decrease in revenue for some colleges has caused some drastic cuts to athletic programs. Teams lost scholarships at schools like the University at Cincinnati, and MIT even dropped eight full teams.
UB has not needed to take drastic measures like this. A great deal of this likely has to do with the fact that UB is a gigantic school and has a wide base to pay for the athletics, but critics of college athletics contend that money spent on sports is against the concept that college stands for.
College athletes get scholarships that other students don't get. Critics argue that this is unfair, and that it takes money away from students who focus entirely on academics.
Some students don't regularly attend sports games. Some won't ever attend a single athletic event during their entire college career. Is it fair that their money has to go toward sports that they will never see?
As the old saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.
There are numerous benefits for the entire school that fly a under the radar.
Many students want to know about athletics before they attend the school. Some might never attend a game while others might attend every home football game, but in the world of recruitment it would be a mistake to give a student any reason to not attend.
If you had the choice between two academically similar schools and only one has sports, you'd be more likely to attend the one with sports. It's a good retort to the age old "what is there to do around here" question.
Athletics also bring students together and form camaraderie and unity in school spirit. Many students remember with great pride the year UB football made it to a bowl game and won the MAC championship. UB alumni around the world looked on as their team carried the blue and white to a national audience, and that generated a feeling that is hard to replicate.
As with any other business, UB needs to look at the money making potential of anything it does. Athletics is no different, and has the potential to be very profitable through ticket sales and sales of merchandising.
You have to spend money to make money, and this is no different. Unlike other schools, UB is not going into debt to pay for athletic programs, a rare instance of money being well managed by a government program.
Though $7 million might seem like a big and scary number, we should be excited about the state of sports at our school. We have big goals, and the will to do it. If only the rest of the college was so dedicated.
