Do you ever stop to think about where the funding for your student admission to athletic events comes from when they swipe your student ID at the Scott Stadium gate?
Miscelaneous student fees are included in each full-time student's University tuition and fees. A portion of the student fee is allotted to the University's Athletics program each semester.
"Athletic tickets for students are not paid for, and could be considered part of the student fee," Athletics Director Terry Holland said.
Therefore, each student is billed for Athletics whether or not the student chooses to take advantage of these events and opportunities.
But the portion of the Student Fee allotted to the Athletics Program is not enough to cover the $24 million annual operating budget required by the program.
The majority of the money comes from Atlantic Coast Conference regular and post basketball and football season, including season television, gate receipts, playoffs, bowl revenue, licensing, corporate sponsorships and concessions.
Other sports also provide revenue for the program, but not as much as football and basketball.
The Athletics Program at the University is considered an auxiliary organization. This means that the program is completely self-sufficient.
"Auxiliary means we are totally self-supporting and that we don't receive any state or University support to operate our programs," Assoc. Athletics Director Keith Vanderbeek said.
"The Athletics Program is much like Dining Services and student housing, and they are actually" required to pay the University a portion of their general and administrative costs, University Budget Manager Melissa Clarke said.
She said the Athletics Program in effect is paying to be affiliated with the University.
According to officials from other Atlantic Coast Conference Athletics Programs, the University's program is not out of the ordinary.
Dave Knachel, from the Virginia Tech Sports Information Department, said Tech's athletics program also is self-sufficient.
Mike McFarland, director of News Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said UNC's athletics program also boasts self-sufficiency status.
But students at the University still must support the Athletics Program through their monetary contributions.
Because a portion of the Student Fee is mandatory for students, they cannot control whether the money is distributed to the Athletics Program.
"About $2.8 million in student fees, about $200 per student, provides support for athletics in total," Holland said.
This money "provides the opportunity for students to participate in athletics. But the student fee doesn't really cover ticket prices because it has become such a small percentage of the budget today that it's not really a factor.
"Support for athletics at the University is less than 10 percent of the Athletics budget," he said.
Although University students do not generate a large sum of money for the program, student guest tickets contribute to the gate receipts. For example, the Wake Forest football game in September attracted about 2,000 student guests. According to Athletics ticket manager Dick Matthias, this game generated about $56,000 in student guest tickets alone.
Matthias estimates that student guest tickets earn the program about $40,000 per game - totaling about $240,000 for the program during football season this year.
"The $240,000 is a small percentage of the total revenue that we bring in," he said.
Although students themselves do not contribute greatly in monetary funds to the Athletics Program, Athletics does contribute to the University by encouraging support from a variety of people.
"A highly visible, successful athletic program means a lot to a university," Vanderbeek said.
Visibility and success encourage alumni to donate money to the Athletics Program, but their funds go directly to student athlete scholarships - totaling about $5 million.
"Student Aid Funds [scholarships] of the $24 million budget, are about $5.4 million," Vanderbeek said. "It is an important revenue source for us."
Read More
Police forcefully clear encampment near University Chapel, detain protesters
By Thomas Baxter and Finn Trainer | 8 hours agoThe University declared the encampment an unlawful assembly at 2:44 p.m.
Student Council passes appointment bill, approves new CIOs at final meeting of semester
By Arshiya Pant | YesterdayMendoza Gonzalez also said she will be meeting with Kenyon R. Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer, to discuss further strategies for the Student Council Endowment Fund.
Professors speak about leading productive dialogue on Israel-Hamas war
By Lexie Stadler | 2 days agoThe event was hosted by the University’s Task Force on Religious Diversity and Belonging, which is designed to ensure that the University is welcoming to community members from all religions and cultures.
