DEFICIT GONE

Eastcoastgriz · Post by **Eastcoastgriz** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:13 am

UM erases $1 million athletics debt
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

Careful spending and tight budgets have allowed the University of Montana athletic department to pay off its $1 million-plus deficit two years ahead of schedule.

The final payment to eliminate the debt was made Tuesday, said Jim O'Day, UM's athletic director.

“This is really good news,” O'Day said. “It's the result of cost containment and watching budgets carefully. A large number of people can be credited with this success - not the least of which are our coaches and staff.

“We couldn't have done this without the support of UM administration, our students and all our fans who stuck with us during a really trying time. Now we are able to move forward.”

The deficit, which was caused by improper accounting procedures and poor budget oversight, was discovered in 2004 during a Missoulian investigation. Upon its discovery, Wayne Hogan, UM's athletic director at the time, resigned from his position and an inquiry panel was assembled at the order of Sheila Stearns, Montana's commissioner of higher education, to determine what happened, where the money went and how to prevent a future budget crisis.

“I congratulate the University of Montana for eliminating the athletics deficit identified in 2004 two years ahead of schedule,” Stearns said Thursday. “This was no small issue, as many may remember. UM administrators made a commitment to the Board of Regents, and did better than their word.”

To help pay off the debt, students who wanted football tickets were asked to give up their free tickets and pay $7 per ticket, O'Day said. Funds from collegiate licensing - also known as “Griz wear” - dining services and university license plate sales also helped pay down the debt.

O'Day said he is pleased to usher the department into a debt-free future, which includes giving back to students their free football tickets, beginning this fall.

“That's great news for the students, and for all of us, because they are the ones who create the atmosphere,” O'Day said.

Unburdened by the debt, UM's athletics is facing many new projects, among them: the addition of 2,000 more seats at Washington-Grizzly Stadium and raising funds to improve student-athlete locker rooms, training facilities and scholarships.

Last year, UM raised $90,000 in private funds to meet scholarship demands, O'Day said. But to bump up graduation rates of UM's student-athletes from 62 percent will take about $150,000, he said.

Degree completion is a priority goal, O'Day said, but it is difficult without more scholarship dollars.

Why? Because athletic scholarship eligibility ends after four years, and many students don't have enough financial aid to finish the one or two semesters they have left toward their degree requirements.

“We need to really help those fifth-year students get their degree,” he said, “and to do that and meet our demands, we need about $150,000.”

Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com

Post by **kmax** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:39 am

Congrats to the U, that is very good news. Hopefully MSU's debt will likewise be retired soon and that monkey will be off the back of the entire Montana University system.

I think it is great that UM is acknowledging the fact that the student ticket prices paid for alot of this and are sticking by it by removing that charge now that the debt is gone. It would have been very easy now that students are "used" to paying to keep that for some extra revenue now that the debt is gone.

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:46 pm

We are on the right track - according to the post in the Sports section, we made more money than we spent.

GrizinWashington · Post by **GrizinWashington** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:47 pm

CelticCat wrote:We are on the right track - according to the post in the Sports section, we made more money than we spent.

Well, to be accurate, you took in more than you spent, but you didn't really make more than you spent. The majority of the "income" ($5mm plus) came from state.

theblackgecko · Post by **theblackgecko** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:06 pm

GrizinWashington wrote:
CelticCat wrote:We are on the right track - according to the post in the Sports section, we made more money than we spent.
Well, to be accurate, you took in more than you spent, but you didn't really make more than you spent. The majority of the "income" ($5mm plus) came from state.

Go easy on Montana State. They do have a higher proportion of their athletic budget come from state and direct institutional support than Montana. They also have the second lowest proportion of any school in the 'Sky.

Post by **kmax** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:20 pm

And while MSU gets more than UM does, UM is in the same boat in that without the "institutional support" they too would be in the red.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:27 pm

From reading one of the articles earlier today, it sounds like fee waivers and things of that nature are included in the "institutional support." I wonder how much of that total figure is attributed to [bogus, as those students wouldn't be at the school were it not for the fees being waived] "opportunity costs" such as that?

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:39 pm

UM probably paid it off early from all that NASA research they did the past 2-3 years there. Oh wait, it never happened.

bobcat92 · Post by **bobcat92** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:04 pm

Isn't the money from the liscense plates suppose to go to the general scholarship fund? I didn't realize that the money could be tapped for other purposes at the Universities.

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:29 pm

bobcat92 wrote:Isn't the money from the liscense plates suppose to go to the general scholarship fund? I didn't realize that the money could be tapped for other purposes at the Universities.

um has two plates- the original one with the old building similar to Montana Hall and a later griz plate, My guess (and it's strictly that) is the revenue from the original plate goes into the general fund and some or all of the revenue from the latter goes into athletics.

bozbobcat · Post by **bozbobcat** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:48 pm

GOKATS wrote:
bobcat92 wrote:Isn't the money from the liscense plates suppose to go to the general scholarship fund? I didn't realize that the money could be tapped for other purposes at the Universities.
um has two plates- the original one with the old building similar to Montana Hall and a later griz plate, My guess (and it's strictly that) is the revenue from the original plate goes into the general fund and some or all of the revenue from the latter goes into athletics.

The newer Griz plate is marked specifically as the UM Athletic Scholarship Association plate, so all of that money goes to athletics, where the general plates (they have 2) go to the general scholarship fund.

GRZZ · Post by **GRZZ** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:35 am

The athletic plate is by GSA. My understanding is that it is like all the other non-profit group plates we have in Montana. They are fund-raising tools, I don't know what the extra cost for the plate it, but that money goes to the organization that sponsors the plate. The MSU scholarship should do the same thing, I'm kind of surprised they haven't.