The University of Idaho athletics program is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Its 2017 budget is running at a deficit of approximately $1 million, and at some point UI will have to make ends meet.
The deficit is the result of multiple factors, but it existed well before UI decided to move its football program from the FBS to the FCS. After the Sun Belt Conference decided to kick Idaho out, FBS independence was unappealing to UI President Chuck Staben because the program’s already low investment compared to other schools means it would be unlikely to find success without increasing funding.
Whichever way they slice it, UI administrators have asked the Idaho State Board of Education (SBOE) to make a tough decision. Barring any shocking developments, there are two choices available to make up the $1 million UI Athletics needs to balance its books.
Back in February, UI asked the SBOE to increase the money cap of Institutional Support that can go to athletics from $949,500 to $1,949,500 for the next four years.
This would mean that over the next four years, $4 million that could have benefited UI students by means of academic investment or infrastructure improvements would instead go to UI athletics to cover the gap between how much it spends and the amount it gets back from subsidies and revenue.
The second option to get out of the red is to cut expenditures — which likely means cutting certain athletic programs. Removing the dollars that are invested into scholarships, equipment, facilities, coaching and support staff is the clearest way to reduce the money athletics spends.
Still, both options hurt students.
If the first scenario, a wider range of students are more limited in the opportunities available to them. In the second, some student athletes will lose an opportunity to complete their education because their scholarship would be cut. In addition, other prospective collegiate athletes would be unable to attend UI because their sport was discontinued.
This isn’t to say athletics doesn’t play a major role in life for many Idaho students. Athletic success can make any Vandal feel good, and attending games is a fantastic experience for both current students and alumni. Programs like the Marching Band, the Cheer Team and sports-broadcasting classes piggyback on the investments athletics makes.
What’s important is that administrators humanize the choices they are about to make. Moving money is a strategic choice for an organization, but it has an immediate impact on students’ lives.
Some people only choose to attend UI because they are the recipient of a scholarship for their sport. And some people only stay at UI because the institution offered them academic opportunities no other university could. All of these people’s experiences at the university are being compromised by the upcoming reality.
Equally important is that people speak their mind about how the university should act when it comes to the deficit it’s facing.
It is not just administrative voices that should be heard as the SBOE decision approaches (scheduled in Moscow on April 19-20). Students, athletes, coaches, faculty, staff — anyone who this decision will affect — need to make their voices heard.
Each side of the coin has its flaws, but the SBOE will be listening to what UI, as a whole community, thinks this university needs.
— JO