Another chance for AE Football?

[Pinnum]

The situation at mid-majors is nothing like what the P5 has to deal with.

Who is claiming it is?

I just don't get how you ignore the "discount" and associated overhead costs just because Hartford is private. Dorms, meal plans, and academic support has a real cost that isn't being collected through tuition/fees. I guess I just don't know how you can say that isn't a real cost to a business.

I'm not an accounting major, but I've done enough work in public budgeting to understand everything has a cost and nothing is "free." I'm not suggesting the Uha President doesn't have a political agenda (clearly, he does), but I don't have much disagreement with the findings.

There are costs but they are not properly accounted for here.

Hartford has underutilized facilities. They have dorms that are not full. They have a very high acceptance rate and a low yield. Those slots are not going to be filled if they eliminate athletes. Which is why they aren't looking to remove sports. They want sports. They just want D3 sports. So the only loss is the scholarship portion. And Hartford uses partial scholarships (as many schools in their position) for their sports. They spread around the scholarships and their teams aren't fully funded. Kids on scholarship (outside of basketball) are still paying money. So it isn't as if they are giving away 100% free spots. Additionally, as part of the scholarship process the students still file for federal financial aid. It is a condition of being able to accept a scholarship. So the school often is still getting money for kids. Sign a basketball player from a low income family and you get any state/federal aid that would be available to that student with the remainder of the costs waived by their scholarship.

So you're right there are costs to the school. But the school is still getting revenue for each head on scholarship. And the costs often will still be there even if the athlete isn't there. The dorm has costs even if not being utilized, for instance, so you might as well put a kid in it who is a part of a marketing arm of the school and one that helps add vibrancy and diversity to the campus.

I have spent a lot of time reviewing finances at many schools to know these figures are not accurate. And while D3 would cost them less (as I have said) the truth is that if the Board saw the actual difference in the figures they might not be too motivated for change.

There is no doubt there is an agenda by the President to change the complexion of the school.