So much for "self-sustaining" athletic departments.

psuro

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For some reason, I seem to think that PSU, and perhaps some other Universities, have done this in the past. Obviously, different economic times, so the dollar value is not the same as now, but I still seem to recall this being done.

Also, I am not sure if all University Ath Dept are supposedly separate from the general Unviersity budget.
 
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Sharkies

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What're we at now? $65m in donations and a $700m albatross around the University's neck? Yea, sure, higher ticket prices are to come, but this is almost inevitable at this point. Unfortunately, when they pass this, Barry will be on his way out, new alumni trustees will have been "pre-vetted" and it will pass unanimously.

Meanwhile, there'll be a thread here on this Board, me and you, Ro, will rightly harken back to this very thread where we warned this would happen, but there'll be a handful of BOT sycophants telling us not to worry and then life will go on...

I'm too young to be this cynical, but this is reality unfortunately.
 

Psu00

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Very few athletic departments are self sustaining and separate from university academic funds. Luckily, Penn State is one of those schools. With the amount of money from tv contracts, that shouldn’t change at PSU, assuming competent administrations.
 
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BobPSU92

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Neeli: “If we impose an athletic fee, can we add some revenue-generating sports?”
 

GrimReaper

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For some reason, I seem to think that PSU, and perhaps some other Universities, have done this in the past. Obviously, different economic times, so the dollar value is not the same as now, but I still seem to recall this being done.

Also, I am not sure if all University Ath Dept are supposedly separate from the general Unviersity budget.
All? No. Degrees and methods vary. Not uncommon for an athletic department to receive monies from a generic "student activities" fee. Clemson is being transparent here. Raises the question, though, whether students who have not interest in, do not attend their school's athletic contests should be subsidizing them. Fairer method would be to simply raise the price of tickets. But we can't have that, now, can we?
 

BobPSU92

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Very few athletic departments are self sustaining and separate from university academic funds. Luckily, Penn State is one of those schools. With the amount of money from tv contracts, that shouldn’t change at PSU, assuming competent administrations.

😞
 

GrimReaper

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Very few athletic departments are self sustaining and separate from university academic funds. Luckily, Penn State is one of those schools. With the amount of money from tv contracts, that shouldn’t change at PSU, assuming competent administrations.
I wouldn't count on it.
 

PSUJam

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All? No. Degrees and methods vary. Not uncommon for an athletic department to receive monies from a generic "student activities" fee. Clemson is being transparent here. Raises the question, though, whether students who have not interest in, do not attend their school's athletic contests should be subsidizing them. Fairer method would be to simply raise the price of tickets. But we can't have that, now, can we?
You mean those students that have no interest in sports but put their name in for the Football ticket lottery and scalp them for $800 for the season?
 
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psuro

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All? No. Degrees and methods vary. Not uncommon for an athletic department to receive monies from a generic "student activities" fee. Clemson is being transparent here. Raises the question, though, whether students who have not interest in, do not attend their school's athletic contests should be subsidizing them. Fairer method would be to simply raise the price of tickets. But we can't have that, now, can we?
Why split the difference? Why not do both?

In the grand scheme of things and looking at the costs of attendance....


$150/semester is not a lot of money.....and relatively speaking, hardly at all....

As far as your question about whetehre students who have no interest in athletics have to pay....unfortunately, that will be something (paying for things they don't direclty use) for the rest of their lives. Better get used to it and enjoy the relatively low costs of this fee while you can.
 

TheBigUglies

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If some of these students(or their families) can afford the $1800/month apartment in these new high rises in State College, the $150/semester athletic fee is a drop in the bucket. However, PSU already charges a semester student fee of $200+ on top of tuition. However, I know there are students struggling to just pay tuition and live at home or live in the old stock apartments at $600/month. Adding more fees for athletics, IMHO, is just another budgeting problem for these universities. Balance your budget and cut out the bloat and they wouldn't need to burden the students with these outrageous fees.
 

Bosco2

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I'm class of 1970. Pretty sure we paid something like a $20 fee for "athletics". That translates to about $150 today. Of course, football cost about $2 a game and all other events were free. Those were the days.
 
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NittPicker

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All? No. Degrees and methods vary. Not uncommon for an athletic department to receive monies from a generic "student activities" fee. Clemson is being transparent here. Raises the question, though, whether students who have not interest in, do not attend their school's athletic contests should be subsidizing them. Fairer method would be to simply raise the price of tickets. But we can't have that, now, can we?
So the choice is to either piss off the boosters or piss off the students. The boosters could get mad and donate less. Can't have that. The students can get mad and do what?? For them it's either pay the money or find another school.
 
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GrimReaper

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You mean those students that have no interest in sports but put their name in for the Football ticket lottery and scalp them for $800 for the season?
Perhaps if the Athletic Department had any financial sense and priced student tickets so that the department's costs were better covered, then why not.
 
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GrimReaper

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If some of these students(or their families) can afford the $1800/month apartment in these new high rises in State College, the $150/semester athletic fee is a drop in the bucket. However, PSU already charges a semester student fee of $200+ on top of tuition. However, I know there are students struggling to just pay tuition and live at home or live in the old stock apartments at $600/month. Adding more fees for athletics, IMHO, is just another budgeting problem for these universities. Balance your budget and cut out the bloat and they wouldn't need to burden the students with these outrageous fees.
So if someone can afford something they don't want, they should be mandated to pay for it?
 

GrimReaper

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So the choice is to either piss off the boosters or piss off the students. The boosters could get mad and donate less. Can't have that. The students can get mad and do what?? For them it's either pay the money or find another school.
Keep in mind that students are potential future donors. So piss them off early and PSU won't have to worry about pissing them off in the future.
 
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GrimReaper

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Why split the difference? Why not do both?

In the grand scheme of things and looking at the costs of attendance....


$150/semester is not a lot of money.....and relatively speaking, hardly at all....

As far as your question about whetehre students who have no interest in athletics have to pay....unfortunately, that will be something (paying for things they don't direclty use) for the rest of their lives. Better get used to it and enjoy the relatively low costs of this fee while you can.
Johnny can't afford the cost of football tickets to games to which he desperately wants to go, so Paul, who doesn't know him, has never seen him should pony up the difference. Solomon had nothing on you.
 

Moogy

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So if someone can afford something they don't want, they should be mandated to pay for it?

You're already paying mostly for things you don't want. History majors don't want STEM buildings, professors and classes (and vice versa). Many students don't want dorms (off campus housing is preferable). Many don't want meal plans but they have to pay to support the general meal-providing infrastructure. And on and on. But each of these things that you don't "want" work together to allow varied folks and interests to gather together to provide the preferred overall student experience for as many as possible. Not a big deal.
 

Calabrin

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Clemson imposing a $150 per semester "athletics fee." How long before PSU follows suit?

The shape of things to come.
This is the way everything is going to go. No different than the pros putting ads on uniforms. We’re never going back from this abyss.

if there’s a way to squeeze a dollar, it HAS to be done. How much longer do we expect the name “Beaver Stadium” to hang around? Sooner rather than later, they’re going to sell the naming rights.
 
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PSU Mike

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You're already paying mostly for things you don't want. History majors don't want STEM buildings, professors and classes (and vice versa). Many students don't want dorms (off campus housing is preferable). Many don't want meal plans but they have to pay to support the general meal-providing infrastructure. And on and on. But each of these things that you don't "want" work together to allow varied folks and interests to gather together to provide the preferred overall student experience for as many as possible. Not a big deal.
But everybody attending has opted into the bundle for the most part. To manage a full a la carte system raises cost and risk to the U.
 

Keyser Soze 16802

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You mean those students that have no interest in sports but put their name in for the Football ticket lottery and scalp them for $800 for the season?
Schools could reverse auction at least some of their student football tickets and thereby capture all the money themselves that currently goes to flipper platforms
 

GrimReaper

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But everybody attending has opted into the bundle for the most part. To manage a full a la carte system raises cost and risk to the U.
An athletic department is easy to unbundle, both conceptually and mechanically.

Sure, a university could make its "athletic fee" mandatory, just as it does others. Or it could make it optional, as South Carolina does. $300 isn't much money, but $2k is getting there (just add another $8k to accumulated debt on graduation). Regardless of how it's handled, good to see it becoming transparent. Another data point for people to consider when making their school decisions.
 
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TheBigUglies

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So if someone can afford something they don't want, they should be mandated to pay for it?
Not at all. I think the extra fees are bullshiite and these institutions should budget better and stop adding extra fees on to things. Had a local township institute a storm water fee on top of property taxes stating they need more money to maintain the storm water systems in the township. This after just building a brand new several millions of dollars maintenance facility. I think the PSU student fee is bullshiite as well. I already pay tuition and then you want more fees!! But to someone able to pay $1800/month rent on top of tuition and student fees most likely could care less about an extra $150 fee.
 

TheBigUglies

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This is the way everything is going to go. No different than the pros putting ads on uniforms. We’re never going back from this abyss.

if there’s a way to squeeze a dollar, it HAS to be done. How much longer do we expect the name “Beaver Stadium” to hang around? Sooner rather than later, they’re going to sell the naming rights.
Sheetz Beaver Stadium
Delgrosso Beaver Stadium
Allstate Beaver Stadium
Toll Brothers Beaver Stadium
 
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Erial_Lion

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Johnny can't afford the cost of football tickets to games to which he desperately wants to go, so Paul, who doesn't know him, has never seen him should pony up the difference. Solomon had nothing on you.
Is it really that much different that every other student activity that's subsidized? Upkeep of intermural fields, speakers, plays, tennis courts, HUB Late Night, etc? I never once went to see a comedian or a movie at midnight on a Friday/Saturday night in the HUB, but yet some of my $ went to pay for it.

(note that I'm not a proponent of continuing to waste $ so that it heads in this direction...but I also don't think that the "non-athletics fans" in the student population are all that much different when it comes to the $)
 

razpsu

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Clemson imposing a $150 per semester "athletics fee." How long before PSU follows suit?

The shape of things to come.
Cause 60k at psu wouldnt cover that 150.00 fee. Lol. Need more deib positions .
michigan
“While other educational institutions pulled back on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the University of Michigan doubled down, spending nearly $250 million since 2016 on employees and programming that fill this ever-expanding niche.”

250 million bucks, and it’s not helping students. Wow
 
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LionJim

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The way things are going, would not be shocked to see ads on college kids uniforms next... why not, they'll say? Its just an ad.
Yeah, did you see the ads on the batting helmets in this year’s MLB playoffs?

Colleges flush with money are rare. Turn down free money? That's bad business, period.
 
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Erial_Lion

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Yeah, did you see the ads on the batting helmets in this year’s MLB playoffs?

Colleges flush with money are rare. Turn down free money? That's bad business, period.
I'm surprised that it's taking this long to go down that route. We know from watching Premier League games that you almost identify some of the teams by the ads on their jerseys. Sooner than later, I expect to see something similar in college football...ads everywhere around the field, every stadium with a corporate sponsorship ("Beaver Stadium" is really leaving some $ on the table), ads on jerseys, etc.
 

psuro

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Johnny can't afford the cost of football tickets to games to which he desperately wants to go, so Paul, who doesn't know him, has never seen him should pony up the difference. Solomon had nothing on you.
That's your best resposne? You are getting tired in your old, Art.

It's really not a big lift. Stop making it out to be mroe than it is.
 

PSU Mike

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An athletic department is easy to unbundle, both conceptually and mechanically.

Sure, a university could make its "athletic fee" mandatory, just as it does others. Or it could make it optional, as South Carolina does. $300 isn't much money, but $2k is getting there (just add another $8k to accumulated debt on graduation). Regardless of how it's handled, good to see it becoming transparent. Another data point for people to consider when making their school decisions.
No real disagreement. I was responding to Moog’s broader bundling …
 

NateBauer

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I wonder if the university benefits at all, financially or otherwise, from having a robust, successful athletic department.
 

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