Article: App State Athletics Loses Money, Sends Students the Bill

[GregPercussion]

Interesting article today from the App State chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) about athletics and their spending in regards to the HC situation and rising fees.

https://aaupappalachian.com/2018/12/12/ ... -the-bill/

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

Exposure to people outside our little mountain (which is essentially what athletics brings) I think increases the value of the diploma that you get at the end of your 3-5 years by more than 750 dollars.

[97APP]

I'd like to see the time some group representing any university's faculty approves of spending more money on athletics. At this point it's almost white noise when articles like this are written.

[The Rock]

Cost of tuition is still relatively affordable when compared to other schools, and they can get into games for free.
I had times at football games when I was in school that I would gladly pay less than $3,000 for spread out over 10 years and lumped in with lots of other tuition money.
This article shrieks of offended professors not getting raises. Very few, if any of our academic endeavors get any attention or brand recognition on the national stage that our football team does.

Also, while Satterfield made 700,00+, there is only one of him. I would wager many professors are at 125,000+ for salary and there are way more than 7 of them.
One could argue that there are too many layers of oversight that professors work under that suck up more money unnecessarily than the sports programs, that the writers failed to mention, provide entertainment for the students such as mountain bikes do.

[HighPointApp]

Interesting article today from the App State chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) about athletics and their spending in regards to the HC situation and rising fees.

https://aaupappalachian.com/2018/12/12/ ... -the-bill/

This article sours my stomach. All that was missing were the phrases, "I need my safe space", "Words are hurtful", "patriarchy rules the world" etc, etc, etc, etc..........

[MrCraig]

Yeah... I'm a teacher, and normally I take the side of the faculty, but without a successful football program I'd bet about a quarter of the faculty wouldn't have jobs at App. The more exposure the university gets, especially through sports, the more students want to attend and the more professors can be hired and get paid.

Also, their examples of "academics first" schools aren't very good. Ok, I'll give you Columbia and MIT; but we've had presidents graduate from Columbia. The only reason I know about Davidson and George Mason is because of previous basketball teams they've had. Sure, they don't have football, but they still have athletics. And I've only heard of William and Mary because of that one Steely Dan song.

And all this about students footing the bill? Let's say they pay $1,000 a year. Ok, but they also get admission to every sporting event for free. If you went to every game and tickets to games were $10 a piece, you would cross the $1,000 threshold first semester.

College is becoming more and more expensive every year, but I'm pretty sure the football team isn't the reason I'm still paying almost $500 a month in student loans. And even if they were, at least I can still watch the football team on tv. I highly doubt they'd still let me use the on-campus gyms or sit in classes.

[GoBlack&Gold]

It appears to me the author of the article has singled out the football program as an unnecessary expense to the university. Please don't send me any hate mail but how much revenue does the ladies volleyball team generate? I don't know this for a fact but I would suspect that if the football team were not so successful a lot of the lesser attended and supported sports programs would not be possible. A family member had a friend whose daughter got a collegiate rowing scholarship and had never been on a rowing team. I am sure others have stories both pro and con but I think the article fails to address all the facts.

[The Rock]

It appears to me the author of the article has singled out the football program as an unnecessary expense to the university. Please don't send me any hate mail but how much revenue does the ladies volleyball team generate? I don't know this for a fact but I would suspect that if the football team were not so successful a lot of the lesser attended and supported sports programs would not be possible. A family member had a friend whose daughter got a collegiate rowing scholarship and had never been on a rowing team. I am sure others have stories both pro and con but I think the article fails to address all the facts.

good points. If we cancelled all sports, think about all the student athletes that would lose their scholarships that may not have the means to pay for tuition if not for their athletic abilities. What would they do then? Don't all those student athletes attend classes (this aint UNC) that those professors teach? Isn't that a form of job security?

[ericsaid]

When you have a new Professor of the Honor's College changing the name from Freshmen to Freshomores because of the supposed masculinity in the name, you know that professor's aren't being paid to do what they should be doing. Based on this professor's argument, "Women" should be changed to "Wom-person".

App wouldn't have as much exposure beyond the immediate area if not for football. That exposure ultimately drives up enrollment, increased quality of students, which increases the pay of professors at the school. It also provides a name people can associate with quality on a diploma after Graduation. The complainant is short sighted, at best, and utilizing extreme hyperbole to drive home an illogical conclusion.

Sports are a function of the University. Costs are passed on to students, the same as every other function of said University. It adds to the atmosphere, growth, perception, recognition, and entertainment value of the school.

[AAPP1]

I hate that this is directed right at Football. The football team is probably the only group that makes money, all the funding from the students are likely used to pay for other programs that aren't attracting the same audience.

[appchicago]

Before we get all butthurt about the article, is it accurate that student fees for athletics have almost doubled since 2011? If so, that's yet another reason for more of our fans to get serious about supporting the Yosef Club. Call me crazy, but I don't think every App student should be paying more for the football program than the stalwart fans do.

[Rick83]

This is obviously aimed at the football program and I agree that the sports program attracts students to the university. App is a bargain at about $15K per year to attend especially when compared to other schools. We were at one of the open houses this past fall and it was a packed large room with an awesome admissions official giving the presentation and when she put up the slide showing the average cost of $15K per year (and added that once you enter the school the rate is locked so no surprises later on) the crowd reacted audibly and people were standing up taking pictures of it with their cameras. Like you could feel the energy in the room pick up.
So, our students are getting a great value for their money...and professors have a pretty good gig once they get credentialed and especially after tenure is reached.

[Rekdiver]

I doubt we would have gotten $10.0 million from Mark Ricks and doubtful Leon Levine’s Foundation if the visibility of Appalachian had not been raised by football. Also the real problem is in Raleigh cutting revenue and disproportionate allocations by the UNC Board of Governors.

[huskie3]

Davidson has football, do not know if it is scholarship.

[Rekdiver]

Davidson has football, do not know if it is scholarship.

Davidson has more money than the Lord.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Davidson has football, do not know if it is scholarship.

Non-scholarship FCS level.

[PhillyApp1]

Interesting article today from the App State chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) about athletics and their spending in regards to the HC situation and rising fees.

https://aaupappalachian.com/2018/12/12/ ... -the-bill/

This article sours my stomach. All that was missing were the phrases, "I need my safe space", "Words are hurtful", "patriarchy rules the world" etc, etc, etc, etc..........

Did you hear App State no longer has Fresh"men"...... its getting ridiculous

[HighPointApp]

Nothing surprises me.

I’m going to listen to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and watch Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer.

[Boonegoon]

I will be the first to say that I think things are way off across major college sports when the highest paid state employees are coaches. Sure, they make money from boosters and shoe deals too but I do think it's a huge problem with no real solution. I also believe the chancellors of the UNC system schools are over paid too. With the UNC and NCSU chancellors making more than 600K.
Meanwhile, fewer and fewer tenured positions are available to professors and many classes are taught by adjuncts who really make a pittance. Many school budgets rely on this to make it possible to pay the boated salaries at the top.

All that said, I still love App sports and want them to succeed because, in this system, that is the best way to elevate the school.

[mountainman33]

Wow, talk about a slanted “article”. Is there an expectation for say the Music School to bring in revenue? This is college and athletics is one of the main drivers for diversity (that’s sorely needed) on campus. Y’all have already poked the holes in the rich school analogy, but talk about a weak argument comparing App to MIT or Columbia. I agree student fees increases should be limited, but this completely disregards football’s value and what’s it’s brought to App. Why not ask the students what they think? If there’s an issue I know App can come together and find out a solution if we don’t throw each other under the bus and simply label athletics (football) as “bad”.