Student athletic fee could see $90 increase if proposal passes

The student athletic fee could increase by $90 if the student fee advisory subcommittee passes a proposal from the athletic department today.

If it doesn’t pass, the athletic department will have to reconsider how else it will maintain its varsity sports programs, said athletic director Dick Baddour after a meeting of the student fee audit committee Thursday night.

“Students value the athletic program,” he said.

“The strong athletic program is one of many reasons students choose to be here.”

The fee increase would support funding for Olympic sports — all varsity sports excluding basketball and football.

Fee money for Olympic sports would be split evenly between personnel operating costs and Olympic sports scholarships, Baddour said.

As budget cuts spur demands for higher student fees, the student fee advisory subcommittee must be selective when selecting proposals to pass, members of the student fee audit committee said Thursday.

“The debate comes from a time where we have significant budget cuts and money is tight,” Student Body President Mary Cooper said.

Alex Mills, treasurer of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, said he was skeptical of the fee increase.

“The problem is not that the proposal doesn’t have any merit.

“It’s a money in the pocket issue,” Mills said. “It’s not an issue that we don’t want to fund services that are necessary and important to the University.”

Men’s basketball and football are exempt from any benefits of the fee increase since they are the primary two revenue sports, Baddour said.

The initial fee proposal was $100 but was reduced to $90 after deliberation.

“In the past, the Board of Governors has capped general fee increases to 6.5 percent per year because that’s the cap they have for tuition, and they are trying to establish the same standard,” Mills said.

A fee of $100 would have placed the request above 6.5 percent and would leave the possibility for the Board of Governors to reject the proposal, Mills said.

“If the proposal were to pass, I think it would take a lot of explanation of what the fee increase is for in terms of both scholarships and support of other sports,” Cooper said.

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