SGA sends out Student Athletic Fee Survey to current student body

[Champ967]

You do realize that students attending on loans will be obligated to pay for those athletic fees with interest for the next 15-20 years, right? Would you be interested in increasing your student loans by 20-50% for athletes that 1) don't give a flip about a degree, 2) that aren't in general college population, and 3) are only there to collect a check?

Is that right, good or proper? No, it's not. People wanting football/basketball/etc/ are not necessarily the same people anymore that want education.

I like the idea of an athletic fee. I don't like how it ads debt to those that don't have cash to attend college. Just because government money is easy to come by, doesn't mean it's best for the school to take it.....and I despise Tech for taking the easy road, and eliminating most of its job placement options that were widely available in the early 90's.

I think alumni should take the high road, and not commit current students to excessive debt to provide for their amusement.

I take your point, but it's overstated here. 20-50% ??? Dont give a flip?? Despise?? Oh please.

You can make your case without resorting to drama.

[zharkins]

You do realize that students attending on loans will be obligated to pay for those athletic fees with interest for the next 15-20 years, right? Would you be interested in increasing your student loans by 20-50% for athletes that 1) don't give a flip about a degree, 2) that aren't in general college population, and 3) are only there to collect a check?

LA Tech students took 292,905 credit hours in the 2018-19 school year. A $10 per hour fee would then raise just shy of $3 million per year. That would increase the fees on ETxBullDawg's example from $1,594 to $1,714 (a 7.5% increase in fees) and a 3.9% increase in overall cost (based on 12 hours). Is that excessive?

Your 20% ($15 million in athletic fees per year) to 50% ($37.5 million in athletic fees per year) hypothetical is far above anything that would ever be considered.

[PawDawg]

I take your point...

TWSS, and speaking of points. This is the best ink pen available IMO. Makes me think of you...

https://uniball.com/home/index.html

[MSChe1992]

Former Champion LTAC member signing off permanently.

If alumni can't agree to fund athletics out of their pockets voluntarily, I see no reason to saddle the students with this burden.

Have fun eating your own.

[olddog75]

LA Tech students took 292,905 credit hours in the 2018-19 school year. A $10 per hour fee would then raise just shy of $3 million per year. That would increase the fees on ETxBullDawg's example from $1,594 to $1,714 (a 7.5% increase in fees) and a 3.9% increase in overall cost (based on 12 hours). Is that excessive?

Increasing the direct cost of education by 3.9% for a non-eduction reason seems fair to me. Especially when 75% of those charged the fee don't attend or care about sports, or reseive a direct benefit.

[Champ967]

TWSS, and speaking of points. This is the best ink pen available IMO. Makes me think of you...

https://uniball.com/home/index.html

Thank you???

[Champ967]

Former Champion LTAC member signing off permanently.

If alumni can't agree to fund athletics out of their pockets voluntarily, I see no reason to saddle the students with this burden.

Have fun eating your own.

1) Drama llama sighting confirmed.

2) Look at me look at me! I'm wealthy and generous! Validate me!

3) Tell LFR, D65 and the other silk-stockings we said hey.

[Blue Dawg]

They have a point though.

I'd like to see a solid C/B analysis for what we expect this to yield for current and future students in terms of educational quality, not just entertainment.

We all know anecdotally that sports success leads to more opportunity for education to take off. Is that the case here? Will this increased fee lead to that success, and then will that lead to educational benefit?

Those numbers are what I as a student would want to see, not just promises that it will make our football team better somehow.

[DawgBark]

You do realize that students attending on loans will be obligated to pay for those athletic fees with interest for the next 15-20 years, right? Would you be interested in increasing your student loans by 20-50% for athletes that 1) don't give a flip about a degree, 2) that aren't in general college population, and 3) are only there to collect a check?

Is that right, good or proper? No, it's not. People wanting football/basketball/etc/ are not necessarily the same people anymore that want education.

I like the idea of an athletic fee. I don't like how it ads debt to those that don't have cash to attend college. Just because government money is easy to come by, doesn't mean it's best for the school to take it.....and I despise Tech for taking the easy road, and eliminating most of its job placement options that were widely available in the early 90's.

I think alumni should take the high road, and not commit current students to excessive debt to provide for their amusement.

What are you referencing? “...and I despise Tech for taking the easy road, and eliminating most of its job placement options that were widely available in the early 90's.”

[HogDawg]

They have a point though.

I'd like to see a solid C/B analysis for what we expect this to yield for current and future students in terms of educational quality, not just entertainment.

We all know anecdotally that sports success leads to more opportunity for education to take off. Is that the case here? Will this increased fee lead to that success, and then will that lead to educational benefit?

Those numbers are what I as a student would want to see, not just promises that it will make our football team better somehow.

As an alumni myself, I think having a well funded and successful athletics program is extremely important to the lifeblood of most universities. We've all heard the saying "Athletics is the window thru which your university is viewed." Fact is, athletic programs often provide a platform through which alumni can stay in touch with the school, and often give back to the university. In addition to being an enormous "money-raiser" for the university, athletics typically bring immeasurable amounts of publicity to a university, and that publicity often serves as a magnet for drawing new students.

Speaking of the students....our students SHOULD have some buy-in to our university athletics. When you've invested your own money into something, you typically take interest in it and care about it. Why should the students get a free ride? If they don't like college athletics, then maybe LA Tech is NOT the school for them. Because they (athletics) are here to stay at Louisiana Tech University.

I believe part of the problem we have today with our lack of student involvement is that many Tech students don't VALUE our athletic programs because they don't have any skin in the game. A large number of our students go to college for free thru programs such as TOPPS, or some other such government program. Supporting athletics at LA Tech needs to be one of their obligations in return for us admitting them to Tech in the first place. And if they don't like it, ULM is only 30 miles down the road.

[Blue Dawg]

I agree with you, but I'll play Devil's advocate a little longer.

As an alumni myself, I think having a well funded and successful athletics program is extremely important to the lifeblood of most universities. We've all heard the saying "Athletics is the window thru which your university is viewed." Fact is, athletic programs often provide a platform through which alumni can stay in touch with the school, and often give back to the university. In addition to being an enormous "money-raiser" for the university, athletics typically bring immeasurable amounts of publicity to a university, and that publicity often serves as a magnet for drawing new students.

Publicity, absolutely. Do you think anyone cares about Alabama the University? I'll wager it's worth it to their research programs. But outside of a few programs, most (especially the G5) operate at a loss.

Speaking of the students....our students SHOULD have some buy-in to our university athletics. When you've invested your own money into something, you typically take interest in it and care about it. Why should the students get a free ride? If they don't like college athletics, then maybe LA Tech is NOT the school for them. Because they (athletics) are here to stay at Louisiana Tech University.

I believe part of the problem we have today with our lack of student involvement is that many Tech students don't VALUE our athletic programs because they don't have any skin in the game. A large number of our students go to college for free thru programs such as TOPPS, or some other such government program. Supporting athletics at LA Tech needs to be one of their obligations in return for us admitting them to Tech in the first place. And if they don't like it, ULM is only 30 miles down the road.

I agree, but we have to grow student involvement/alumni loyalty along with the fee. Involvement appears to be way down (anecdotally), and we'll just have to keep pumping current students more and more because the new alumni aren't Tech fans.

[Gooddawg]

Student Fees for Athletics are the norm in CUSA. Please look at the graphic LA Tech Sports Report posted. Every year we don't have one we are falling farther behind. Do you want to have athletics that competes for championships or not? The answer is simple. Put it up for a vote, enact a fee regardless of the vote, and make plans to dominate the conference in every sport. I'm not saying collect $28 mil in fees/year like ODU but make it worthwhile and charge something that gets us to the average collected in CUSA. An extra 4-5 Million would make drastic difference and make huge impact. Guarantee you winning CUSA championships in baseball, football, and basketball would not be far behind.

[Exes&Ohs]

LA Tech students took 292,905 credit hours in the 2018-19 school year. A $10 per hour fee would then raise just shy of $3 million per year. That would increase the fees on ETxBullDawg's example from $1,594 to $1,714 (a 7.5% increase in fees) and a 3.9% increase in overall cost (based on 12 hours). Is that excessive?

Your 20% ($15 million in athletic fees per year) to 50% ($37.5 million in athletic fees per year) hypothetical is far above anything that would ever be considered.

Does that 292,905 credit hours taken in that school year include courses completed by the dual enrolment kids, those still in high school and taking courses there that are coordinated with Tech and acceptable once they graduate and start attending full time? We have over 3,000 in that program. Would they be subject to the fee?

[HogDawg]

I agree with you, but I'll play Devil's advocate a little longer.



Publicity, absolutely. Do you think anyone cares about Alabama the University? I'll wager it's worth it to their research programs. But outside of a few programs, most (especially the G5) operate at a loss.



I agree, but we have to grow student involvement/alumni loyalty along with the fee. Involvement appears to be way down (anecdotally), and we'll just have to keep pumping current students more and more because the new alumni aren't Tech fans.

No we don't. No babysitting here. Just slapp 'em with the fee and don't think twice about it. If they don't like it, they can easily attend ULM. Many of todays students have no skin in the game and have no reason to be involved. They are little more than "visitors" to our campus. That's why they don't show up for sporting events or participate in other school events. That needs to change. And if slappiing 'em with an Athletic fee runs 'em off to ULM, I'm perfectly okay with that. LA Tech needs better student selection policies during our admissions process. We need to be admitting students who are going to be involved on campus, and contribute to everything Louisiana Tech. We don't have that today.

LA Tech needs to quit admitting students simply because they fog up a mirror. Make 'em want it, or give their spot to someone else who does, even if you have to make a compromise on GPA, class rank, etc.... Put a cap on commuters, and make people live on campus if you must. It's time for a change. Apparently our admissions team at LA Tech is emphasizing the wrong policies.

[techman05]

I have known several out of staters who attended 1-2 sporting events in their 4 years and only because I made them go. Got their engineering degrees and left and haven’t attending anything or donated a dollar since. We probably have 500-1000 students each year that are engaged in more than just class work at Tech. That’s just my opinion from the optics of this situation.