Hawaii’s athletics department had been trying to rely on the $23 million a year it generated from ticket sales, donations, television and marketing, plus an additional $10 million in direct and indirect support from the university. But by this summer, the department had accumulated about $10 million in debt and was adding to that at a rate of $1.5 million to $2 million a year. Over the objections of undergraduate and graduate student organizations, the state board of regents voted in July to impose an athletics fee for the first time.
An article in USA Today features Hawaii, and lots of other universities, soaking their students with athletics fees.
Lots of universities don’t disclose the fees. Why disclose them? You know that if you do, students are likely to vote against raising them. Just sneak them into unitemized tuition bills.
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At the rate they’re going, Hawaii will accumulate $20 million in athletic debt in not too long a time. Students will to have to take care of that.
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:34AM
Marie Antoinette’s got nothing on that Boyle guy from Cleveland State.
September 22nd, 2010 at 7:07AM
We do not have an athletics fee.
The $2000+ per student is buried in the tuition.
September 22nd, 2010 at 9:27AM
If athletics are really integral to the college experience, there’s an argument for rolling their cost into tuition. If they’re a service or an extra, fees make a certain amount of sense. Some people/institutions really believe the former. Those who hew to the latter line have a tougher argument to make, I think — and there’s no way the fees should be hidden. For public institutions, state law should require itemization of fees on the term bill.
July 27th, 2012 at 2:04PM
[…] ain’t that great. What a fucking profile in courage. Hawaii runs the scummiest losingest football program out there, but look out world here we come! On […]