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On Friday, the UNM Athletics Department submitted a $3.5 million allocation request, to be taken from student fees, to the Student Fee Review Board. Athletics is one of several organizations requesting funding from the SFRB that the board saw presentations from last week.
The Athletics Department’s budget request was the second-largest fee request after Student Health and Counseling, according to board member Matthew Rush.
In a presentation to the SFRB, Deputy Athletics Director Tim Cass said the current request is approximately $420,000 more than the $3.1 million student fee allocation it received last year. If approved, this measure could result in a $19-per-student fee increase for full-time students.
Cass said the additional money will cover travel costs of transporting teams to conferences. He said that although Athletics received $835,000 in student fees for travel costs last year, the department spent a total of $3.5 million for team travel costs, and had to generate remaining funds on its own. Cass said that because the scope of UNM’s teams have increased recently while state funds have been cut, travel costs have proven to be a challenge for the department.
“Since 2009, our state funding has been reduced by 1.2 million,” he said. “We are projecting an at least 400,000 dollar increase in travel costs for teams next year. With the new league participants, such as Hawaii … those are more challenging spots and financially would require a bigger investment from our end.”
According to a copy of the Athletics presentation, the department’s operating costs totaled about $29.4 million last year. Athletics received $500,000 from the SFRB for equipment funding last year. It also received $380,000 for student athlete care, to provide teams with services and facilities that monitor their health, such as training rooms. Athletics used $420,000 last year for academic support and band and cheerleading funding, and used $944,000 for complimentary student tickets that allow students enrolled in at least six credit hours in UNM to enter all UNM athletic events for free.
Last year, the Board of Regents approved a $50 increase in student fees to further fund the Athletics Department, bringing the total athletics fees per student to $131.75. The regents overruled the SFRB’s suggested allocation to Athletics, which was to give the department $81.75 per student, the same amount it received the year before.
But Cass said that compared to New Mexico State University, UNM provides relatively little support. He said that UNM Athletics needs to self-generate 83 percent of its total budget, while NMSU self-generates only 56 percent because it receives about $9 million from institutional support.
“With a budget of 29.3 million, we are the lowest-budgeted university in the highest-ranked athletics,” he said. “None of the student fees go towards salaries.”
During the SFRB hearing, Rush questioned Athletics’ funds in terms of academic support. He said Athletics’ proposed $420,000 budget increase is large compared to other organizations on campus.
“Comparing to other organizations that support academics here, that’s close to what their operating budget as they serve the entire community,” he said. “I’m kind of curious as to what unique needs are for the academic support for athletes.”
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Rush said Athletics accounted for 24 percent of the total budget the SFRB allocated last year.
But Associate Athletics Director for Student Development Henry Villegas said only one-third of the $420,000 increase would account for academic support. He said the funds also provided some stipends for the University Band and for UNM SPIRIT, the University’s cheering program.
Villegas said that the department uses funds for academic support efficiently. He said student athletes have a 61 percent graduation rate compared to the university-wide average of 45 percent. Also, he said that 11 out of 21 athletic programs at UNM have an academic progress score of at least 1,000, which means that athletes in these programs succeed in completing their degrees.
Villegas said the funding for Athletics’ academic support is well spent.
“I think there’s no better place to put that money than at the core of the vision of the University,” he said. “We’ve been able to get some tremendous results in regards to the graduation rate.”
Cass said Athletics has done its best to use its budget in the most efficient way. He said the department conducts an all-staff meeting monthly to track its progress.
“We try to disperse (the budget) to all areas that touch all our 450 student athletes,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s fair to compare that allocation to a specific area academically because I could have said, ‘Let’s put more money towards team travel and just 50,000 to the academic support.”
