Athletics fee may jump by at least $8

While six sports programs are kicking fundraising efforts to save their teams into high gear, the university is proposing a small increase to the mandatory student athletics fee to cover rising operational costs — a measure not intended to solve the department's debt.

Currently, the mandatory athletics fee for full-time undergraduate students is $397.54 per school year and $132.50 for graduate students. While the fee generated more than $10 million for the athletics department this fiscal year, university officials made a recommendation last week to the Board of Regents — the 17-member governing board of the University System of Maryland — to increase the fee about 2 percent. The Board is scheduled to decide by May, Assistant Vice President and Director of the Office of Budget and Fiscal Analysis Robert Platky said.

The department is currently saddled with an $83 million debt, which will result in the cutting of eight sports teams if the athletes cannot raise enough money to support themselves for the next eight years by June 30. However, university officials declined to drastically raise the athletics fee for the next fiscal year to balance the budget, according to Associate Athletic Director of Business Jon Palumbo.

For next school year, the athletics department proposed an increase of $8.25, raising the fee to about $405.79 for undergraduates and $140.75 for graduate students. According to Platky, the new fee reflects a typical change to combat rising technical costs — and similar adjustments were slated for the other auxiliary fees, as well.

Palumbo said the majority of the department's budget goes toward salaries and benefits for personnel, scholarships for student athletes and operating costs.

According to an NCAA Financial Report Database review of fiscal year 2010, of the year's overall $46.5 million operating costs, more than $8 million of the university athletics budget went toward salaries, about $7 million went to student aid and an additional $7.7 million was allotted to various operating costs. Data for last fiscal year and this year have not yet been compiled.

"[The student fee] is really not allocated specifically," Palumbo said. "Our expense budget consists of all the operating costs of running our sports programs, so that's team travel, recruiting travel for our coaches, athletic equipment and apparel, all sorts of general operating costs."

Though the university's Committee for the Review of Student Fees — composed of faculty and students — met in September and approved the athletics department's proposed 2 percent increase to the student athletics fee, members said the Board of Regents may not necessarily approve the group's recommendation.

"Just because the fee was approved [by the university] does not mean each individual member on the committee agreed on the increase, nor are the committee's recommendations binding in any way," committee member and Student Government Association President Kaiyi Xie wrote in an email.

However, several students said increasing the athletics fee — even if it's just to front rising technical costs — is unfair for students given the department's debt.

"I don't think it should be a student's responsibility," said junior English major Patrick Belson. "That's assuming everybody has a take in athletics, and a lot don't — a lot of people don't care, and there's nothing wrong with that."

marcot@umdbk.com