Student fees and the UVU Athletic department

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Wolverines rely heavily on student fees to keep program moving forward

When prospective students look up the tuition and fees at Utah Valley University, they notice that for a student with 10+ credits, the student fees for 2015-16 are in the amount of $354 per semester. What some students might not know is that $106.77 of those fees goes to help fund the UVU athletic department. UVU is second in the state in its reliance on student fees behind only USU. Aggie students pay $523.13 per semester in student fees and $135.14 of that goes towards USU athletics. Students at the University of Utah, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State University, and Salt Lake Community College pay less in student fees toward their athletic departments than students at UVU do.

In a report obtained from the UVU athletic department, student fees accounted for 51 percent of the athletic budget during the 2014 fiscal year. The operating revenue in 2014 was $8,580,963.37 and $4,391,351.68 of that came from student fees. It was a $1 million jump from 2013 when the operating revenue was around $7.5 million and revenue from student fees was around $3.3 million.

The money that comes from student fees goes toward helping pay for scholarships for student-athletes. It also helps pay for housing, food, travel, and equipment for the various sports.

According to Nikki Scott, associate athletic director of finance and business at UVU, student fees have not increased in the past five years. Despite the differences in numbers from 2013 to 2014, student fees have remained the same. The difference in the amounts can be attributed to an increasing number of students attending UVU as well as more full time students.

Despite this fact, student fees have still accounted for almost 50 percent of the athletic budget at UVU since 2010. The only year that it was less than 50 percent was in 2013 when it was at 44.3 percent. 2013 was also the year that they received the most direct institutional support, as the UVU athletic department received just over $3 million in university/Government revenue.

According to Scott, UVU is heavily reliant on student fees to help fund the UVU athletic department. It is to be expected as UVU is still fairly new in regard to being an NCAA Division I athletic program and they are trying to establish themselves as a new up and coming program. UVU doesn’t sell out the UCCU Center for every home basketball game and most other sports at UVU struggle to get large crowds. The men and women’s soccer teams might be an exception to this. This is one reason why UVU is so reliant on student fees, institutional support, and donors to keep their program running. Under the current system, UVU athletics could not exist without student fees.