Want to know why your tuition keeps going up? Sports is one problem

Most hard-working students are just barely scraping by on ramen noodles and Chef Boyardee. Every time they get that next tuition statement, they groan because tuition is going up again, like it does almost every year. Students at some colleges have been successful at getting tuition freezes, keeping the already outrageously-priced tuition from going up, but those freezes are few and far between, and don't last more than a few years at best.

Many students wonder what causes tuition to go up each year, but universities can deliver few straight answers. Overspending is obviously one of the main problems, but colleges refuse to release most of their spending records to the public, claiming them as private. So students are forced to pay the big bucks, but aren't allowed to see how their money is spent.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a fascinating article Sunday on the salaries of sports coaches at the University of Minnesota. Like most people, I was shocked at the amount of money college coaches get, especially the coaches involved in sports that bring in little or no revenue at all. Of course, sports are only a small part of the reason why tuition goes up at most colleges each year, but every cause has to start somewhere, and students should put pressure on their schools to stop overspending. Since the salaries of most college coaches are publicly known, it's a great place to start.

At the University of Minnesota, Wendy Davis, the coach of the women's rowing team - a sport that was added recently only because Title IX rules required more women's sports - makes $74,586 per year, including benefits. The rowing team brings in little, if any, revenue. Of course, a lot of people would say college sports teach students teamwork and dozens of other real-world skills, so the amount of money a college sports team brings in isn't necessarily important. I agree with this somewhat, but when a university pays their coach that much, it should only be because the sport brings in a lot of money.

But it gets worse. The women's gymnastics team has two coaches, Jim and Meg Stephenson, who make a combined $161,598, including benefits. Both coaches have been around for 12 years, and have never won a conference title in that time. The gymnastics team also brings in very little revenue.

On the men's side, the sports bring in more money, but the coaches are also paid a lot more. Glen Mason, the football coach, makes $1,137,300, including benefits, despite the fact that he's never won any big titles here in seven years, or at his former jobs at Kent State and Kansas. The football team has improved over the last few years, but only because they've been playing a lot of less talented division II teams.

Steve Plasencia, the men's cross-country coach, makes $97,243, including benefits. The team is pretty good, but hasn't won a title in the eight years Plasencia has coached here. Like many of the women's sports, the cross-country team brings in very little revenue.

Speaking of women's sports, going back to the women's teams brings us even more ridiculous salaries. The two coaches of the softball team, Lisa Bernstein and Julie Standering, make a combined $155,625, including benefits. The volleyball coach, Mike Hebert, has only won one conference title in eight years, but makes an astounding $183,067, including benefits.

The average professor at the University of Minnesota - y'know, the people who actually teach students things that will help them get a job after they graduate - makes $84,000 a year. The starting pay is much lower, and most of them are required to have a doctorate in their area of teaching just to get considered for a position.

If you took the combined salaries and benefits of all the university's coaches - $4,460,806 - and paid them the same as professors, it would save each of the 49,474 students at the university roughly $50 on tuition. And that's just for sports, one small part of the overspending problem. Just think how much students could save if the other areas of overspending were monitored and fixed.

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Reader Comments

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Paul Ryan      Dec 5, 2003 • 12:10am   Students are still paying for the benefits with their tuition, and the benefits are damn good compared to a normal professor. Mikey      Dec 4, 2003 • 10:15pm   The key word here is "with benefits". That includes pension, insurance, etc etc.... and before taxes... so truthfully that 80 grand number goes down to 50-60 grand real quick. Paul Ryan      Dec 4, 2003 • 8:07pm   For the record, I also like sports a lot. I like journalism too, but I don't think journalism teachers should be paid more than other teachers because of it. TractorInc      Dec 4, 2003 • 7:15pm   Damn right you wish you had seen them. I do too. Megan Simonsen      Dec 4, 2003 • 4:27pm   This makes me really glad that my school has no sports teams. Paul Ryan      Dec 4, 2003 • 3:50pm   Nope. Wish I had seen them, though. TractorInc      Dec 4, 2003 • 3:25pm   Did you get a chance to see Mars Volta when they were in the Cities last October? Katers      Dec 4, 2003 • 2:18pm   There is nothing I enjoy more than reading something like this and thinking to myself, "Self, one of the highest paid professors at UWS makes $70 grand a year. Less than half of what a volleyball coach makes." It really puts things in perspective - a fucked-up one, that is.

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