The athletic department depends on students to fund about $11 million of its budget through student fees, and those fees could continue to rise.
Last year the university collected $19,885,860 through its “student services fee,” which students pay in addition to base tuition. The fee for all students taking at least seven credit hours is $647 for the fall and spring semesters. It drops to $485 during the summer session.
A majority of student money collected through the fees -- 56 percent or about $11 million of it – went to athletics last year. The rest goes to areas including Late Nite, the Student Center, Emens Auditorium and paying off outstanding debt on campus buildings.
Because the athletic department only generates about $4 million annually through ticket sales, NCAA allocations, donations and a handful of other revenue streams, it depends on student funding to operate.
It can’t be determined at this time if student fees will increase next year said Bernie Hannon, associate vice president for Business Affairs and assistant treasurer. The amount charged is dependent on factors including how much state funding Ball State receives, how many students are enrolled and other miscellaneous expense estimations.Hannon expects the 2015-16 budget review, which will determine those factors, to be completed in May or June of next year. Since 2008, Ball State’s student fee fund has grown by more than $4 million.
FOR THE EXPERIENCE
But as Ball State football head coach and associate athletic director Pete Lembo said, college sports isn’t about making money.
“If your rationale for having athletics is to turn a profit -- even in some of the bigger conferences -- it’s just not happening,” he said.
Lembo’s primary mission as a coach is to make sure student athletes have a positive experience during their time in college. Beyond that, he hopes to be a “contribution to the spirit of campus.” Having access to Division I sports is a privilege, Lembo said, and students should take advantage.
“What ends up happening, is you go through four years and didn’t go to football games, didn’t go to basketball games -- somewhere down the road, you’re going to regret not doing that because your college experience was so different,” he said.
The lack of money for sports is consistent throughout the Mid-American Conference as member schools’ athletic budgets are all about 70 percent subsidized by university funding.
Jeff Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina Upstate, has done extensive research in regard to colleges funding athletics through student fees. Smith said the spending trends are a result of an “arms race,” that causes schools to want to keep up with their peers. He said university officials put too much stock into the value of competing at a high level.
“There is a misconception from university leadership -- I’m talking college presidents and administration -- [regarding the] benefits to the universities from [competing in] Division I,” Smith said.
FOR THE ATTENDANCE
Ball State home games are technically free for students, though they pay nearly $400 to athletics through fees each semester. Low attendance numbers have historically plagued Ball State. Even football, by far the school’s biggest draw for spectators, struggles to consistently produce a big crowd.
In 2012 an average of 12,930 people attended each of Ball State’s home games. That number ranked 120th of 126 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Three other MAC schools; Massachusetts (10,901); Akron (9,275) and Eastern Michigan (3,923); drew fewer spectators than Ball State.
Though NCAA reports show minimal fluctuation in average MAC attendance -- 16,727 in 2008 to 16,739 in 2013 -- attendance has fallen at many larger programs throughout the country. A study from the Wall Street Journal on attendance at roughly 50 major public universities showed a decrease of about 7.1 percent since 2009.
College sports can serve as a major advertising and branding tool. Former Ball State athletic director Bill Scholl referenced a sign held by Alabama students on ESPN College Game Day challenging the Ball State football team.
“You can’t buy that kind of publicity,” he said.
However, Smith and his research disagrees.
Through research for a piece set to be published in January, Smith and his colleagues found that 80 percent of surveyed MAC students said athletics was “insignificant” in their decision to attend their university. Smith said most students surveyed would likely give more consideration to university location and tuition costs.
Hudson Akin, vice president for university advancement, said successful athletics can help Ball State attract top faculty and students from across the country. Akin recently helped lead the Cardinal Commitment campaign, a $20 million fundraising effort for the building of athletic facilities.
The idea is that upgraded facilities draw more talented high school recruits to Ball State, leading to better teams. Successful teams can make it easier for university fundraisers like Akin to draw gifts and donations from alumni.
FOR THE GIFTS
Last year Ball State’s athletic department collected $765,000 through gifts; about four percent of its total revenue. The football team buys nutritional supplements for its strength and conditioning department with money from the Cardinal Varsity Club -- a group that raises money for athletics.
The football team also recently purchased alternate uniforms featuring matte black helmets through donations.
“To be able to say that we took $45,000 out of fundraised money for that does two things,” Lembo said. “It doesn’t affect your operating budget and it allows you to do the same things you did the year before. But it’s also satisfying for those donors. ... Because they can turn on the TV now and see exactly what their gift was going towards.”
Donations allow for extra spending but they don’t reduce the athletic department’s dependency on student fees. More income usually just results in more spending to keep the budget balanced. In recent years athletic spending has grown significantly faster than academic spending.
Universities in the five wealthiest conferences in the country, referred to as the Power 5, bring in more revenue than mid-major programs like Ball State. Smith figures there are about 80 of those top athletic programs close enough to being self-supporting that using some university funding is not a problem.
At the MAC level though, the return just isn’t there.
“The truth is that there is almost no correlation between athletic success and academic giving,” Smith said.
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