Students paying students: How the U is trying to stay competitive in athletics

[BleedGopher]

University of Minnesota students will pay a new $200 athletics fee this year even if they never don a Gophers football helmet or attend a single game.

The Twin Cities campus for the first time has added a $100-per-semester fee to offset the substantial price tag for paying student athletes to play on Gophers teams. Even so, the athletics budget is $8.75 million short, though U officials said they’re hopeful they can close the gap.

The new fees are drawing ire from student government leaders and come at the same time as a significant tuition increase of 6.5% for in-state undergraduates and 7.5% increase for out-of-state undergraduates there this fall.

Riley Hetland and Ethan Fiegel, the president and vice president of the U’s Undergraduate Student Government, said in a statement that “while we acknowledge that student-athletes deserve fair compensation for the amazing work they do, Gopher Athletics already generates revenue from students through voluntary contributions in the form of tickets and merchandise sales.”

“Students should not be forced to pay an additional fee on top of this,” they said.

In order to stay competitve in college athletics, the U has a plan; students paying students

Despite Twin Cities campus students being charged $200 a year, the U still faces a $9 million athletic budget deficit.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[gopher watcher]

University of Minnesota students will pay a new $200 athletics fee this year even if they never don a Gophers football helmet or attend a single game.

The Twin Cities campus for the first time has added a $100-per-semester fee to offset the substantial price tag for paying student athletes to play on Gophers teams. Even so, the athletics budget is $8.75 million short, though U officials said they’re hopeful they can close the gap.

The new fees are drawing ire from student government leaders and come at the same time as a significant tuition increase of 6.5% for in-state undergraduates and 7.5% increase for out-of-state undergraduates there this fall.

Riley Hetland and Ethan Fiegel, the president and vice president of the U’s Undergraduate Student Government, said in a statement that “while we acknowledge that student-athletes deserve fair compensation for the amazing work they do, Gopher Athletics already generates revenue from students through voluntary contributions in the form of tickets and merchandise sales.”

“Students should not be forced to pay an additional fee on top of this,” they said.

In order to stay competitve in college athletics, the U has a plan; students paying students

Despite Twin Cities campus students being charged $200 a year, the U still faces a $9 million athletic budget deficit.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[gopher watcher]

This is so incredibly wrong! Tuition-paying students should not have to pay for athletes. Not every school is doing this, e.g, University of Wisconsin

1. Raise ticket/user fees on tickets.
2. Get more sponsors.
3. Get more concerts.
4. Get more NIL.
5. Get a more creative athletic director.

The Board of Regents should reverse this decision

 

[TruthSeeker]

All the money is fungible. Tuition money helps pay for PhD students in Engineering and Science who are paid by the university to attend school.

That means students are paying for students to attend. Where are the pitchforks ready to skewer the Chem E PhD nerds?

 

[Ragnor]

All the money is fungible. Tuition money helps pay for PhD students in Engineering and Science who are paid by the university to attend school.

That means students are paying for students to attend. Where are the pitchforks ready to skewer the Chem E PhD nerds?

PhD and grad students that earn money are being paid by a different pot of money, i.e. grants. The grant money is being devestated at the federal level that is resulting in PhD students and post doctoral students losing their positions.

 

[MaroonMagic]

All the money is fungible. Tuition money helps pay for PhD students in Engineering and Science who are paid by the university to attend school.

That means students are paying for students to attend. Where are the pitchforks ready to skewer the Chem E PhD nerds?

Historically, athletics departments could justify the exorbitant amounts of money they spent by partitioning athletics off as generating enough revenue themselves to be self-sufficient and by keeping the academic money pot separate from the athletic money pot. There hasn't been much direct flow between the pots in either direction, which is why some really hate this new fee for students.