DSM Register: Can UNI afford to be DI school for athletics?

[bigdawg]

This doesn't sound good.

Among Iowa's three public universities, the University of Iowa hasn't given any state tax dollars or student subsidy to its athletics programs since 2007. Iowa State University athletics have been cut off from those sources since 2011.

But UNI has provided its athletics program more than $56 million in taxpayer or student subsidies over the past dozen years to cover what couldn't be raised through ticket sales, conference contracts, alumni donations, student fees and other sources.

So why should UNI be allowed to use those public-dollar sources for athletics when UI and ISU have managed to wean themselves from it?

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/ ... /30301673/

[unifight789]

No it doesn't but pretty much the same article has come out every year for the last several years. They act like no other programs need help from taxpayers. Yes UNI is the only one in Iowa but I wonder how many non power conference D1's there are that don't need any help compared to how many that do.

[Wufan]

I don't think it matters that you actually need help, but someone is reporting this in an attempt to gain support for funding cuts to UNI.

[uniftw]

I don't think it matters that you actually need help, but someone is reporting this in an attempt to gain support for funding cuts to UNI.

Same hit piece that's been going on for the last 5-10 years. It comes out every, or every other July. Typically after UNI had a successfull football and/or basketball season.

It's nothing except a complete hit piece put together by a writer for the Iowa City Press Citizen.

Notice how all of the quotes point to everyone being pretty happy with where things are and where they are headed.

His numbers are completely skewed in an attempt to make his point - which isn't done well and is a terrible point.

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being holy s*** someone is about to pull a UAB on our entire athletic department and 10 being zero worry of any kind about something coming from this 99% of UNI fans are at least a 9.8.

[Red]

Let's be honest. This isn't UNI specific. I bet almost all of the MVC public schools have athletics highly subsidized by the state or by student fees.

[uniftw]

Let's be honest. This isn't UNI specific. I bet almost all of the MVC public schools have athletics highly subsidized by the state or by student fees.

UNI is at/near the bottom of MVC school....

[uniftw]

From another register article of doom and gloom...the register put 3 or 4 of them out in 24 hours. It's like clockwork come July and the DSM Register

When compared to others in the Valley, Northern Iowa is among the most stable.

Of the six conference schools listed in USA Today's rankings (Drake, Bradley, Loyola and Evansville are private institutions and are not required to report data), only the Panthers and Wichita State were under the 50 percent mark when it came to subsidies.

Indiana State was 159th, receiving $10.1 million in subsidized funds, which accounted for 72.8 percent of its budget.

other schools listed in the articel

Southern Illinois 62.49%
Wichita State 30.69%

[Khan4Cats]

It's part of the University of Iowa's (note is was written by an Iowa City Newspaper columnist and picked up by the Register) hit piece plan to save their disproportionate funding model in place. The current model distributes state money for in-state students about $15 K to Iowa per student, $10K to Iowa State per student, and about $7K to UNI. So an Iowa resident attending Iowa is given more than twice the funding for going there than to UNI.

The Board of Regents proposed a plan to redistribute the funding more equitably among the three state universities and Iowa has been fighting tooth and nail to stop it or derail it. They have attempted to take over a business school in Des Moines that served mainly Des Moines residents in order to count their enrollment numbers, increased/changed their marketing in the state to be 'the school that serves the state of Iowa' despite their higher number of out of state students, and continued to fight reciprocity with other Midwestern states that would do a ton to help the athletic costs at UNI.

I'm not worried. The University of Iowa is worried that they are losing some of their privileges.

[lime]

No it doesn't but pretty much the same article has come out every year for the last several years. They act like no other programs need help from taxpayers. Yes UNI is the only one in Iowa but I wonder how many non power conference D1's there are that don't need any help compared to how many that do.

Maybe but I doubt the average Register reader would be interested in the situation at College of Charleston or South Alabama or UC Davis.