The recent proposal by ASUI President Samantha Perez to increase the student activity fee by zero percent may prove positive for most students, after President M Duane Nellis proposed a 6.1 percent increase to tuition for the 2012-2013 academic year.
While students look to benefit from the zero percent increase, the University of Idaho Athletic Department will suffer as a result of Idaho State Board of Education regulations.
According to the Idaho SBOE policy, the student fee revenue “shall not exceed revenue generated from student activity fee dedicated to the athletic program. Increases to the student fee for the athletic program shall be at the same rate of increase as the total student activity fees.”
Therefore, as long as the student activity fee remains unchanged, the athletic department will receive the current $127.02 per student per semester.
In 2012, the athletic department received $2.335 million from student fees. That money supports team travel ($1.923 million), game operations ($0.686 million) and equipment expenses ($0.556 million).
Prior to April 2011, intercollegiate athletics at all four of Idaho’s public universities were eligible for an increase.
“It’s really unfair and I don’t think the board should be able to set restrictions on one fee that — at especially the University of Idaho — where the students are the ones that determine where that money is going,” Perez said.
During her department audit, which reviewed individual departments within student activities, Perez and other members of the Associated Student Fee Committee listened to a presentation from Matt Kleffner, associate athletic director for administration.
Kleffner pointed out that athletics generates approximately $34 million for the Moscow community every year and provides $4.5 million in revenue to the university.
Athletic Director Rob Spear said it is imperative that the athletic department receives appropriate funding to remain competitive and attract student attention.
“I want our students to be proud of our athletic programs and our athletic programs have to receive the appropriate base funding. It’s confusing to me and disappointing at the same time,” Spear said. “You look at how we’re competing right now with the rest of our peers, we’re third in the Commissioner’s Cup right now, which means we’re the third-best program in the Western Athletic Conference right now.”
UI student fee revenue remains significantly lower than that of its peers in the WAC and Mid-American Conference. While UI receives just more than $2 million from student fees, WAC peers San Jose State and Utah State receive at least $4 million and New Mexico State receives approximately $3 million. In the MAC, four schools receive at least $8 million and the Univeristy of Akron, in Ohio receives almost $18 million.
Spear said he would be comfortable with Idaho reaching a sustainable, base-level $3 million.
“I’ll always want the most for our program but I really think another million dollars is the minimum amount to get our programs to where we can be funded and have the appropriate base funding.”
Considering UI’s student population is significantly lower than some of these schools, the athletic department becomes even more dependent on student activity fees. In addition, UI is located in an area where media markets and corporate sponsors are limited. The money WAC schools generate from TV markets in largely-populated areas can’t translate to a less densely populated Palouse.
“Because of our area, we need to rely on this type of funding more than any other institution, it’s just the way it is,” Spear said. “Unfortunately, if we lived in a big area where we had access to corporate sponsorships and be more attractive and generate more television dollars, that would be awesome but we’re not. We need to rely on this funding more than ever.”
The university has also been impacted financially by institutional and state caps along with lost television revenue.
Perez said it’s unfortunate that the university and SBOE don’t see eye to eye on a subject she believes is essential. Though Boise State University is affected by the same SBOE policies, its athletic department benefits from a substantially larger and more-populated area.
“We can’t capitalize on being in the metropolitan city,” Perez said. “I think the person to blame for this is the SBOE, it’s not ASUI’s fault or athletics’ fault, it’s simply a policy that the state board has created that allows us no flexibility or funding, which is so unfair.”
Though athletics won’t benefit from an increase in 2013, the ASFC was able to reallocate $10.25 to support other programs, including the Women’s Center and Campus Recreation.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]