Conference realignment likely on hold until 2023

[PawDawg]

I agree about our budget. So many assume our AD is responsible for the increased giving. That's not accurate. For starters LTAC giving is down. Dr. Guice has been more responsible than anyone, but the Brooks Hull hire is much more important to the increase than what our AD has done (or not done).

[Bearpaw]

No doubt about it, our budget will be our biggest limiting factor when conference realignment resumes. If we're not super aggressive in finding a way to increase that budget, things will not go well for us when the next big shuffle happens.

I believe that student athletic fees are the only way we'll ever be able to increase our budget in any appreciable way. Right now, I'm pretty sure that we're very limited with what we can do with student fees. It may literally take an act of congress to change tis situation. Tech and ULL would support allowing student fees without affecting state general funding, but would UNO, ULM, SLU, NSU, MSU, Nichols, Southern, and GSU? Probably not, so it'll be an uphill battle in Baton Rouge to get it done. It's going to take some very good salesmanship. We'll see if TMAC is up to the task.

We could have an enthusiastic alumnus win one of those big $1billion Powerball tickets. Maybe they could donate $2-10million a year of the $10-$50million annual annuity

[HogDawg]

I agree about our budget. So many assume our AD is responsible for the increased giving. That's not accurate. For starters LTAC giving is down. Dr. Guice has been more responsible than anyone, but the Brooks Hull hire is much more important to the increase than what our AD has done (or not done).

You keep repeating that "LTAC giving is down". I find this difficult to believe. Versus WHAT? Versus a previous one year anomoly at some point? Or is it a trend?

Our football program has seen more bottom line success in the last 5 years than at any time since the 1970's. Over the past 5 years we have had bigger average crowds, seen our facilities improve dramatically and watched the game-day experience keep improving. Other sports have done well too. Just not sure I believe this comment.

[PawDawg]

You keep repeating that "LTAC giving is down". I find this difficult to believe. Versus WHAT? Versus a previous one year anomoly at some point? Or is it a trend?

Our football program has seen more bottom line success in the last 5 years than at any time since the 1970's. Over the past 5 years we have had bigger average crowds, seen our facilities improve dramatically and watched the game-day experience keep improving. Other sports have done well too. Just not sure I believe this comment.

The proof on LTAC giving being down is the non reporting of the actual amounts.

He did not hire COYHCSH and even though COYHCSH has show respect in media mentions of our AD, it is believed by many that he does not respect him at all.

- Bigger than average crowds? Based on what?
- Facilities have improved. Our AD is not responsible for the funds being raised.
- Game day experience improving? That's just ridiculous. The video board, concessions, ticket promotions are all lacking to say the least.

[ETxBullDawg]

No doubt about it, our budget will be our biggest limiting factor when conference realignment resumes. If we're not super aggressive in finding a way to increase that budget, things will not go well for us when the next big shuffle happens.

I believe that student athletic fees are the only way we'll ever be able to increase our budget in any appreciable way. Right now, I'm pretty sure that we're very limited with what we can do with student fees. It may literally take an act of congress to change this situation. Tech and ULL would support allowing student fees without affecting state general funding, but would UNO, ULM, SLU, NSU, MSU, Nichols, Southern, and GSU? Probably not, so it'll be an uphill battle in Baton Rouge to get it done. It's going to take some very good salesmanship. We'll see if TMAC is up to the task.

Here is my son's Fall 2017 account summary. Are athletic fees rolled up in undergrad fees? Seems reasonable if you have a yearbook fee you should also be able to have an athletic fee especially since they still get in at no additional cost with their ID.

Estimated Fee Charges: Fall 2017
Code Description Date Debits Credits Balance
BEGINNING BALANCE 0.00
2011 UNDG TUITION 11 HR 0711 1,851.00 1,851.00
2031 UNDG FEES 11 HR 0711 1,098.00 2,949.00
2690 LAGNIAPPE FEE 0711 30.00 2,979.00
2641 TECHNOLOGY FEE-11HRS 0711 55.00 3,034.00
2591 ENERGY SURCHRGE-11HR 0711 80.00 3,114.00
2630 ENGINEERING/SCIENCES 0711 60.00 3,174.00
2625 E&S LAB SUPPORT FEE 0711 70.00 3,244.00
Ending Balance 3,244.00

[Houston Techsan]

Here is my son's Fall 2017 account summary. Are athletic fees rolled up in undergrad fees? Seems reasonable if you have a yearbook fee you should also be able to have an athletic fee especially since they still get in at no additional cost with their ID.

Estimated Fee Charges: Fall 2017
Code Description Date Debits Credits Balance
BEGINNING BALANCE 0.00
2011 UNDG TUITION 11 HR 0711 1,851.00 1,851.00
2031 UNDG FEES 11 HR 0711 1,098.00 2,949.00
2690 LAGNIAPPE FEE 0711 30.00 2,979.00
2641 TECHNOLOGY FEE-11HRS 0711 55.00 3,034.00
2591 ENERGY SURCHRGE-11HR 0711 80.00 3,114.00
2630 ENGINEERING/SCIENCES 0711 60.00 3,174.00
2625 E&S LAB SUPPORT FEE 0711 70.00 3,244.00
Ending Balance 3,244.00

Good question, but likely in UNDG fees. Back in the old days we had a student activity fee which I believed covered concerts and athletics. I have gone to the Tech Website and can find no detailed description of some of the fees - general fee ($95.39) and University Assessed Fee ($695.94) These two are quite vague I can find no other description. In addition there is a student assessed fee of $119.50. There are four others you don't list - Building Use fee ($44.50) in case you actually want to go to class, Academic Enhancement Fee ($16.67), Academic Excellence Use Fee ($80.00), and Operational Fee ($46.00). No where do I see anything for athletics so they must be covered in one of these. These cover the UNDG Fees of $1098.00. Anybody else know anything?

[Houston Techsan]

These fees have come a long way from the old $50 per semester registration fee and our modest other fees of about $15.00 per semester (it seemed to work out about the same per quarter when we changed). Inflation would probably account for the $65 to $1098 increase (hey it's been 52 years). It's tuition which is the big difference. It used to be zero.

[HogDawg]

Here is my son's Fall 2017 account summary. Are athletic fees rolled up in undergrad fees? Seems reasonable if you have a yearbook fee you should also be able to have an athletic fee especially since they still get in at no additional cost with their ID.

Estimated Fee Charges: Fall 2017
Code Description Date Debits Credits Balance
BEGINNING BALANCE 0.00
2011 UNDG TUITION 11 HR 0711 1,851.00 1,851.00
2031 UNDG FEES 11 HR 0711 1,098.00 2,949.00
2690 LAGNIAPPE FEE 0711 30.00 2,979.00
2641 TECHNOLOGY FEE-11HRS 0711 55.00 3,034.00
2591 ENERGY SURCHRGE-11HR 0711 80.00 3,114.00
2630 ENGINEERING/SCIENCES 0711 60.00 3,174.00
2625 E&S LAB SUPPORT FEE 0711 70.00 3,244.00
Ending Balance 3,244.00

What the hell is an "Energy Surcharge" fee? We're as bad as a hospital that charges $25 for an aspirin.

[The Historian]

Keep in mind, you can have student fees for athletics, but the total amount generated by the fees and transferred to athletics counts towards the cap mandated by the state. The exception is any student fee used to pay down facility debt or for facility projects. Those monies don't count towards the cap.

In most years in the I-A/FBS era Tech has transferred the maximum allowed by the state. So student fee money provided to athletics wouldn't increase the overall athletics budget unless the state raised the cap.

[Amos Moses]

Here is my son's Fall 2017 account summary. Are athletic fees rolled up in undergrad fees? Seems reasonable if you have a yearbook fee you should also be able to have an athletic fee especially since they still get in at no additional cost with their ID.

Estimated Fee Charges: Fall 2017
Code Description Date Debits Credits Balance
BEGINNING BALANCE 0.00
2011 UNDG TUITION 11 HR 0711 1,851.00 1,851.00
2031 UNDG FEES 11 HR 0711 1,098.00 2,949.00
2690 LAGNIAPPE FEE 0711 30.00 2,979.00
2641 TECHNOLOGY FEE-11HRS 0711 55.00 3,034.00
2591 ENERGY SURCHRGE-11HR 0711 80.00 3,114.00
2630 ENGINEERING/SCIENCES 0711 60.00 3,174.00
2625 E&S LAB SUPPORT FEE 0711 70.00 3,244.00
Ending Balance 3,244.00

Looks like my phone bill.....fees, taxes, other unknown crap charges that only a PHD or a teenager can understand!

[The Historian]

To follow up on my previous post:

Our student body passed a student fee in 2002 and another in 2012 with portions of the proceeds of each fee going to athletics for facility projects. Fee increases that have gone before the student body in the past 25 years have been overwhelmingly supported. The 2012 increase passed with 84% support. The last fee increase that came even remotely close to failing was the Centennial Plaza fee which passed with just over 50% support in 1992.

This hasn't been the case at other schools in the state. Students at ULM and UNO have both rejected student fees that were primarily for athletics, while a fee at UL-Lafayette had to be watered down with money given to more than a dozen student organizations in order for it to garner enough support to barely pass. Students at LSU rejected a fee increase to renovate the LSU union only to see the LSU Board of Supervisors impose the fee anyway.

At the same time there have been debates by various campus committees at Tech about these fees when they've been proposed. Over the years almost every student fee that's passed has had a higher pricetag when first proposed internally within Tech.

And cutting those proposals has gone beyond Dr. Reneau. Even when Reneau was in favor of certain fees at certain amounts there have been administrators and faculty members who have insisted they be whittled down to where they have only a minimal impact. The argument has always been 'not to soak the students'. The shame of it all has been the fact Tech is the one place in the state where a large student fee for athletics would likely have enough support to pass a student vote, yet the students have never even been given that opportunity. And Tech still has relatively low tuition and fees.

As I have posted previously in this thread Dr. Guice has to deal with internal politics that few here ever see.

[Houston Techsan]

What the hell is an "Energy Surcharge" fee? We're as bad as a hospital that charges $25 for an aspirin.

As I noted it is very difficult to pin down some of these fees. It would probably take an FOI request to get the school to enumerate what all of these fees actually go for and then I would bet they would stone wall you as long as possible. Also as I noted the UNGD fees are about the same as our old fees from 1966 adjusted for inflation (I used 5% compounded yearly for 52 years so it's pretty rough), but at least they told us what they were for.

[The Historian]

As I noted it is very difficult to pin down some of these fees. It would probably take an FOI request to get the school to enumerate what all of these fees actually go for and then I would bet they would stone wall you as long as possible. Also as I noted the UNGD fees are about the same as our old fees from 1966 adjusted for inflation (I used 5% compounded yearly for 52 years so it's pretty rough), but at least they told us what they were for.

HT:

All of these fees have a history to them. Some are university assessed. Others are student assessed, while some of the student assessed fees have been implemented with votes within individual colleges. Trust me, nobody would stone wall you.

Here is info on the Technology fee:

http://www.latech.edu/administration/policies-and-procedures/1304.php

Here is the info on the Energy Surcharge:

http://www.latech.edu/techtalk/output/n%20-%20gas.htm

[Houston Techsan]

HT:

All of these fees have a history to them. Some are university assessed. Others are student assessed, while some of the student assessed fees have been implemented with votes within individual colleges. Trust me, nobody would stone wall you.

Here is info on the Technology fee:

http://www.latech.edu/administration/policies-and-procedures/1304.php

Here is the info on the Energy Surcharge:

http://www.latech.edu/techtalk/output/n - gas.htm

At least these fees have some sort of name or purpose but hey are almost chump change. But what about the Under Graduate fees like the University Assessed fees of $695? And I really had to go onto the University Web site and dig to find this one. And as for the tuition, I won't even go there.

[brtransplant]

To follow up on my previous post:

Our student body passed a student fee in 2002 and another in 2012 with portions of the proceeds of each fee going to athletics for facility projects. Fee increases that have gone before the student body in the past 25 years have been overwhelmingly supported. The 2012 increase passed with 84% support. The last fee increase that came even remotely close to failing was the Centennial Plaza fee which passed with just over 50% support in 1992.

This hasn't been the case at other schools in the state. Students at ULM and UNO have both rejected student fees that were primarily for athletics, while a fee at UL-Lafayette had to be watered down with money given to more than a dozen student organizations in order for it to garner enough support to barely pass. Students at LSU rejected a fee increase to renovate the LSU union only to see the LSU Board of Supervisors impose the fee anyway.

At the same time there have been debates by various campus committees at Tech about these fees when they've been proposed. Over the years almost every student fee that's passed has had a higher pricetag when first proposed internally within Tech.

And cutting those proposals has gone beyond Dr. Reneau. Even when Reneau was in favor of certain fees at certain amounts there have been administrators and faculty members who have insisted they be whittled down to where they have only a minimal impact. The argument has always been 'not to soak the students'. The shame of it all has been the fact Tech is the one place in the state where a large student fee for athletics would likely have enough support to pass a student vote, yet the students have never even been given that opportunity. And Tech still has relatively low tuition and fees.

As I have posted previously in this thread Dr. Guice has to deal with internal politics that few here ever see.

Internal politics? If Dr. Guice is truly in charge of leading our university, he can't let a few liberal academians push him around. Tell them how things are going to be and if they don't like it, show them the door. It's not like Dr. Guice will be up for re-election in four years.