Tuition fees at area schools

After writing about the schools that are in various stages of adding football, I thought I would take a look to see how Wichita State compares with area schools in regards to student fees. After doing some research it has become obvious that student fees do not tell the whole story as some institutions charge more per credit hour in order to have lower fees. The best way to compare is to take the overall tuition with fees and divide by 14 hours to see what they are really charging per hour. I have added all numbers for comparison.

Wichita State

• Fees: $427
• Tuition hour: $138.15
• Tuition hours with fees: $168.65

Kansas University

• Fees: $846.70
• Tuition hour: $229.25
• Tuition hours with fees: $289.72

Kansas State

• Fees: $337
• Tuition hour: $198.47
• Tuition hours with fees: $222.54

Missouri State:

• Fees: $338
• Tuition hour: $186
• Tuition hour with fees: $210.14

University of Northern Iowa

• Fees: $426
• Tuition hour: $197
• Tuition hour with fees: $227.42

Southern Illionois:

• Fees: $1419.05
• Tuition hour: $232.50
• Tuition hour with fees: $333.86

Oklahoma State:

• Fees: $1374.80
• Tuition hour: $131.35
• Tuition hour with fees: $ 229.55

Oklahoma

• Fees: $1815
• Tuition hour: $117.90
• Tuition hour with fees: $247.54

Nebraska

• Fees: $565.60
• Tuition hour: $179.75
• Tuition hour with fees: $220.15

Missouri

• Fees: $519.57
• Tuition hour: $245.60
• Tuition hour with fees: $282.71

Out of this group Wichita State has the lowest cost of attendance at $168.60 per credit hour with fees adjusted in. Just for fun, lets say that the Wichita State students voted to add a $150 fee per semester to fund the return of football. If only the full time students payed this fee, it would raise around 4.3 million a year for football. Even with this fee, guess who would have the lowest tuition per hour? Thats right, it would still be Wichita State at $179.36. Football cannot and will not come back to Wichita State without the students help. It would cost students about $10 per hour to bring back shocker football. Considering everything that comes along with having this sport on campus, I would say that is a bargain. However, it is up to the alumni to fan the fire that is Shocker football.

DI SCHOOLS THAT ARE ADDING FOOTBALL PART ONE: Football is coming to campus

Monday, September 29, 2008

There are currently 6 Division I schools that are publicly looking at adding Football to their collegiate sport offerings. On top of that, there are 4 schools that have officially added Football and are preparing for their inaugural seasons. Since we are on the midst of a pledge drive at bringbackshockerfootball.com, I thought it would be interesting to see how much initial up front money these schools are seeking. Below are the list of schools, their official pledge drives and associated student fees.

Lamar: Cardinals Athletics led by Billy Tubbs, will embark on a 5 million dollar campaign to help with the start up cost of football. The students have passed a fee increase in the amount of $8.75 an hour which will garner about 2 million dollars annually. This increase will raise the total cost of attending Lamar by 131.25 or about 4% for a total of $3173.25. This is assuming a student class load of 15 hours. They plan on using the student fees to help offset the debt service of about 11 million dollars in facility improvements.
Lamar student fees with football: $875
Football begins: 2010
Feasibility Study: Coming Soon!

Georgia State: GSU believes that the estimated start up cost will be about 7.8 million for football. This is being secured by student fees and alumni fundraising. GSU's student fees will be raised $85 per semester for a total of $600 which is within $10 of Georgia and Georgia Tech's student fees. Overall it will raise GSU students fees and tuition by about 3% and will garner about 5 million dollars annually.
GSU Student fees with Football: $600
Football begins: 2010
Feasibility Study: http://www.nmnathletics.com/pdf2/53118.pdf?ATCLID=695518&SPSID=53686&SPID=5679&DB_OEM_ID=12700

Old Dominion: ODU's first football game in 69 years will be held in the fall of 2009. Before Football was officially added, ODU alumni were asked to raise 8 million dollars to help with start up cost and the establishment of a football endowment. The alumni succeeded and the students followed by passing a $7 per semester fee increase to help fund the program. This fee will generate about 2 million each year. ODU's on campus football stadium was built in 1936 and was last used for college football in 1940. The stadium is currently undergoinf 24.8 million dollars in upgrades.
ODU Student fees with football: $99
Football begins: 2009
Feasibility Study: Coming soon!

South Alabama: As part of a 75 million dollar campus wide campaign, the university of South Alabama is seeking 1.5 million for new athletic facilities which includes football offices. USA students voted to increase their student fees by $150 which will raise 3.5 million dollars a year. This will raise their overall cost of tuition by 6%.
USA Fees with football: $258
Football begins: 2009
Feasibility Study: Coming soon!

DI SCHOOLS THAT ARE ADDING FOOTBALL PART TWO: Football is up to the alumni

UNC Charlotte: When the official fund drive starts, the alumni will have 6 months to raise 5 million dollars. The main purpose of this drive is to set a fundraising base for a future football stadium. 5000 personal seat licences will be sold at $1000 to achieve this goal. After the initial drive, there will be another campaign to raise 15 million dollars for the actual stadium. The student fee hike estimated to make football a reality is $200. Currently student fees are 888.75 and the total cost of tuition and fees is 2147.25. Funding Football will raise each full time students cost of attendance by 1.4%. Charlotte student fees with Football: $1088.75
Football begins: 2013
Feasibility study: http://charlotte49ers.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/ncch/genrel/auto_pdf/ncch-football-feasibility-narr

University of Texas Arlington: The student body at UTA has voted to increase their student fees by $2 a semester to help fund football. Currently the president has "deferred" a decision on football until 2009.
Feasibility Study: http://www.uta.edu/sportsexpansion/sports_expansion.pdf

University of Texas San Antonio: Students have recently passed a $120 semester fee to help offset the cost of football. UTSA has completed a feasibility study that shows it will take 3 million dollars to start up football. In addition they would like to partner with San Antonio on a 60 million dollar athletic facilty that a variety of UTSA Olympic sports could use. This facility would also include a practice facility and locker rooms for football. Currently the plan is with the University of Texas board of regents and has not been voted on. The Roadrunners will hold their games at the Alamo Dome.
Feasibility Study: http://www.utsa.edu/ucomm/athletics/toc.htm

Winthrop: The President expects start up cost to be around 1.7 million and they will need 16.6 million in capital projects which will include a stadium. There is no official timetable for bringing back football.

Texas A&M Corpus Christi: The islanders completed a feasibility study in January of 2007. This study estimated that start up cost would be around 2.7 million dollars and recommended a 5 million dollar fundraising campaign to begin football. A student fee has not been voted on at this time. The President has put a hold on Football for now as the athletic department was hit with a variety of NCAA infractions in 2008. The rough timetable for football to begin is 2015.
Feasibility report: http://www.goislanders.com/pdf1/59034.pdf?ATCLID=750920&SPID=6601&DB_OEM_ID=14100&SPSID=60120

Kennesaw State: The athletic department has done an internal study on Football at KSU. The study estimates that they would need one Million dollars in start up funds with an additional student fees of around $45. In addition, Kennesaw State is in the midst of a campus wide fundraising campaign that includes 15 million dollars for an on campus football stadium. The original timeline called for KSU to take the field in 2011 but has been pushed back as fundraising continues.
Feasibility Study: http://ksuowls.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/kenn/genrel/auto_pdf/feasibilitystudy

Brad Justice, a Shocker football diehard and founder of bringbackshockerfootball.com, will be on 1410 KGSO tomorrow morning at 7:05 to talk about the groups latest efforts to get Shocker football reinstated. If you miss it, check back here for a podcast of the segment.

A conversation with Jim Schaus

Picture by Matt O'Donnel

I had a phone conversation with Jim Schaus today and it is clear why Wichita State Athletics had such tremendous success during his time here. The man is sharp as a tack. According to Jim, football was not on the burner at WSU until the last two years of his tenure. It was during this time that he began to have discussions with the President about returning football and contrary to popular belief, President Beggs would like to have football back at Wichita State. The catch is that football is not just another sport. Schaus describes football as something that needs to be part of the strategic enrollment plan and has to be something the whole institution is dedicated to making work. Like they say, the devil is in the details and that is where the problem lies. During his stint as the WSU AD, it became apparent to Schaus that President Beggs was not concerned about increasing enrollment at WSU and was fine with the status quo. So if you are not worried about enrollment, why take the risk of adding football to the athletic budget? Say what? The loss of full time traditional students has been well documented at Wichita State by football boosters and it makes one wonder what President Beggs motives are. I have never really bought into the KU conspiracy theory but it does cause one to raise a few eyebrows. Although I have not spoken to President Beggs about this, one can only assume he has the best interest of the university at heart, at least we can hope.

The reason Jim took the job at Ohio has been talked about before and bears no merit in this conversation. However, having football at Ohio was a selling point as it was something he missed. To be fair, Schaus did make it clear that he felt WSU was, and is still viewed as a successful athletic department without football. So the real question remains. Does Jim Schaus believe that WSU can bring back football? The answer is yes, if and only if the entire institution gets behind it. To add football as just another sport would be a disaster for Wichita State and that is something that nobody wants to see.

It's time to come together

Currently, there are three fundraising groups that are attempting to get football at Wichita State reinstated. There is SOS (Support our Shockers), the Black and Golds, and BBSF (Bring Back Shocker Football). Each group has its own strategy to making this happen. However, in the spirit of election season, it is time that all of these groups work together in order to make this common goal come to fruition. The money is there to make this happen and can be tapped into with a concerted effort. The major roadblock seems to be Don Beggs. However, not even Don Beggs will be able to stop Football if the WSU alumni come together and demand it.