Yes. Looked at with a smidgeon of rationality – not to say self-respect – the situation for students at the University of Akron (as at so many universities) is less than optimal. They pay a lot of money every semester in athletics fees. Yet they are not told how much, because the university doesn’t itemize the general student fee number. Ms King up there – a current UA student – would like the school to disclose this information so that she can get a better grip on the strange situation in which she finds herself: She’s a student at a school where interest in athletics is “poor,” but the money she and her fellow students cough up every semester is making the athletics program “rich.”
So lookee here.
UA estimated that $400 of the $428 fee per semester goes for athletics.
Wow. That’s a lot. In fact, UD thinks UA should be honest and rename the UA “student fee” the “athletics fee” because who’s kidding who? Basically the whole thing goes to athletics. You pay close to a thousand dollars a year at UA to support a sports program about which you probably could care less.
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Now in Virginia things have gotten to the point where politicians are stepping in. Their effort to cap student fees will go nowhere, but it’s certainly suggestive that the House majority leader is at least giving the cap idea a try.
“In Virginia, only about 3 percent of college students will play intercollegiate athletics. But mandatory student fees account for, on average, 69 percent of athletic program expenditures,” [Kirk] Cox said. “In other words, we are asking non-athletes and their parents to cover two-thirds of the cost of college sports. In my view, we simply cannot ask students who will never play a minute of college sports to bear such a disproportionate share of the costs associated with these programs.”
December 31st, 2014 at 2:56PM
What’s funny, whenever a uni goes deep in debt for nonsense such as gourmet on campus eateries, spa like recreation centers, luxurious dorms, reason given is that the students demand the amenities. When students say they don’t want tuition hikes to pay for athletics, TPTB ignore any of that. Admins will shamelessly say anything to fulfill their master’s wishes….