When other money falls short, Arkansas universities turn to students to fill out their athletics budgets.
Nine of the state’s universities plan to subsidize between 19 percent and 78.7 percent of their athletics budgets with fees collected from students in the 2012-13 academic year, according to a new report from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Those budgets require students to pay athletic fees ranging from $13 to $17 per credit hour, whether or not they ever attend a game.
In the past, lawmakers have criticized the fees as a financial burden on students at a time when college costs are growing in all areas.
Campus leaders defend them, arguing that athletic programs help define a university’s identity, build student involvement and encourage alumni fundraising.
“If an institution and its board consider athletics a valuable and important part of a university, then the institution is going to have to have an investment of some of its own money in that program,” said Joel Anderson, chancellor of the Universityof Arkansas at Little Rock.
UALR students will pay $16.10 per credit hour to finance about 64.5 percent of the university’s $7.16 million athletic budget in the 2012-13 academic year.
The highest athletic fees in the state will be at the University of Central Arkansas at Conway and Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, where students will pay $17 per credit hour to subsidize athletics, according to the Higher Education Department’s report.
A relatively small number of the nation’s university athletics programs are considered financially self-sustaining, which means they don’t rely on student fees or other institutional funds to pay for sports programs.
Just 22 schools with NCAA Division I football teams had self-sustaining athletics budgets in 2010, according to the most recent data available from the organization. Fourteen were selfsustaining in 2009, according to the NCAA website.
In Arkansas, the only program that doesn’t rely on student contributions is the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, which is funded entirely through sports-re-lated revenue such as ticket sales, Razorback licensing fees, television contracts and donations from boosters.
“We’re very proud of that,” Chancellor G. David Gearhart said. “We fully intend for that to remain the case.”
The Razorbacks’ 2012-13 athletics budget totals $69 million, 23 percent greater than all other Arkansas universities’ athletics budgets combined. That’s in part because of high visibility programs such as basketball and football, and the lucrative television contracts that come with them, Gearhart said.
In addition to student fees, many Arkansas universities transfer money from their educational and general funds - which are largely used to finance instruction - to help pay for sports. Educational and general funds, generally the largest segment of a university’s annual budget, are composed of state funding, tuition and certain student fees.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-62-801 directs the Higher Education Coordinating Board to limit the amount a university may transfer from that fund into its athletics budget, adjusting the figure for inflation each year. The transfer limit for the 2012-13 academic year is $1,180,687, said Brandi Hinkle, an agency spokesman.
Four schools plan to hit that transfer limit: ASU-Jonesboro, Arkansas Tech University at Russellville, Henderson State University at Arkadelphia and Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia, according to the Higher Education Department report, which the Higher Education Coordinating Board plans to review Friday in El Dorado.
At the University of Arkansas at Monticello, leaders resist pulling too much athletics funding from the educational and general fund because they don’t want tuition money directed toward sports, Chancellor Jack Lassiter said.
“We have tried throughout our history to remain a lowcost institution,” he said. “Our primary mission is academics.”
UA-Monticello’s $3.14 million athletics budget is one of the smallest among Arkansas universities. Students there pay a $13 per-credit-hour fee, among the lowest in the state, to subsidize 25.1 percent of the cost.
Other Arkansas universities with larger athletics programs find other ways to fill out their budgets.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff uses paymentsfrom game guarantees, tickets and concession sales to help supplement its $6.32 million athletics budget, UAPB budget Director Pauline Thomas said.
UAPB students pay a $15 per-credit-hour student athletics fee to cover 19 percent of athletics costs.
The university works to keep that fee as low as possible, Thomas said.
“We’re very conservative because of the type of students we serve,” she said, referring to students from low-income families. “We try not to put too much of a cost increase on them.”
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith derives the highest portion of its athletics budget from student fees. A $15 per-credit-hour fee covers 78.7 percent of its $3.6 million athletics budget.
Arkansas Tech’s $14 percredit-hour student athletic fee is one of the lowest in the state. Revenue generated from that fee makes up 68.7 percent of the university’s athletics budget, the second-highest portion in the state.
“When you consider the return on that investment in terms of how athletics helps us build a sense of community on our campus and connect with our constituents, it seems to be a great value for the university,” Arkansas Tech spokesman Sam Strasner said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/22/2012