BENTONVILLE -- Setting up a sanctioned sports program at Northwest Arkansas Community College would cost an estimated $431,519 over the first three years, according to the college board's Sanctioned Sports Committee.
Private donations would pay those costs, with the first-year expense estimated at $142,163. Estimates were based on a program of women's volleyball, women's softball and men's baseball. The committee presented its findings at a meeting Friday morning at the board's conference room on campus.
Committee members said they arrived at those estimates by putting together a tentative schedule for each program, then applying the costs paid by similar colleges in the region with those sanctioned sports programs. The schedule included colleges in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The costs included stipends starting at $15,000 for the first year for the head coach in each program. None of those coaches would be full time, the report said. Assistant coaches would be unpaid volunteers.
The most debated point about the estimates was the cost of insuring the players against sports-related injury. Colleges typically require student athletes to obtain private insurance coverage. The college then pays for a separate insurance policy that will cover any costs from an injury that isn't paid by the student's insurance.
"I can tell you there will be students who will get a policy and provide proof of insurance so they can play sports, then never make a premium payment," said Evelyn Jorgenson, college president. "Those polices will be revoked and, when they injure themselves, the hospital will want to be paid. If they don't get the payment from the student's insurance, you will get the bill."
Jorgenson's point is a known issue and included in the costs obtained from other colleges, Dwight Power, committee member who presented the cost estimates, said. Other committee members agreed, saying the cost of the insurance cannot be precisely calculated until a program is put together.
Ethan Beckcom, risk manager for the college, said factors other than finances should be considered. Failing to fully take care of a student injured in college sports would hurt the college's reputation, he said. Also, uncompensated costs for an injury could drive a financially strapped student out of college, he said. The committee is aware of those risks and would meet them if the college board proceeds with sports, Power said.
"We know that some students come here with only pennies in their pocket," Power said.
Several board members also pointed out federal health care reform requires everyone to have some form of health coverage. Jorgenson replied the state's version of federal health coverage only covers students who are legal residents of the United States. Immigrants could be barred from a sanctioned sports program by the insurance requirement, she said.
NW News on 03/07/2015