The Bobcat Nation

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.ph ... egents.inc

The students just got raked over the coals. Athletic fees are going up for the Scum boys. I hate to this, the Athletic dept should be taking the hit, but the students are a easy target with no voice.

One thing I did notice in the article; the Athletic dept has to save money on recruiting by recruiting closer to home. Without all those Cal boys and JC transfers, how will the scum be able to compete?

I am so tired of hearing the constant bitching of students over how rough they have it when it comes to activity fees. That is totally untrue! UM has charged students lower athletic fees than most institutions in the west. An increase $8 per year starting in 2005 and an addtl $4 in 2006, bringing the yearly fee to $68 and $72. What's the big deal?

And before this becomes a cat/Griz issue, remember that MSU is a bargain as well! Time for the students to audit that econ course and pay special attention to the topics of inflation and supply/demand.

If anyone has room to complain its the average citizen watching property taxes increase, $2 per gallon of gas and medical insurance rates constantly rising. Wow, a Griz game ticket seems like a great bargain to distract me right about now...

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Got soom award winning whineing kitties here!

I can not talk about the rest of the MSU community, because they have always tried to
deny that the college of Arts and Architecture were actually not part of the MSU campus,
but I fully admit that the residence of Cheever Hall in vented the term Power Whining!!!!!!

To that extent, if the board of regents are going to give the UM athletic department
$40,000 out of the goodness of their hearts for gross negligence on UM part, Should not
the MSU folks be rewarded with the same amount by the regents, for having a much
smaller deficit, identified, and almost paid off! It seems to me that we are rewarding
idiots, and punishing honesty!

What do you think of that whining and smack in the same sentence!!

I think this whole discussion is skewed (by nearly everyone). Athletics are a net fund raiser for the school (when you consider that a large part of the "costs" are scholarships that are paid for by boosters, that are then paid to the school). Framing a stand-alone deficit for an athletic department is not really correct, and I hope most of the decision makers in the state know that. Unfortunately, I have a feeling most lay people assume that when they hear "athletic deficit," it implies that the school would be in a better financial position (even ignoring alumni goodwill, student recruitment, etc.) if athletics didn't exist.

Clearly, athletics and MSU and UM bring in cash to the school and the community.

Should the students pay more? Sure, probably. They are getting a great deal now and still will be afterwards. The only ones who can really complain are the ones who spend Saturdays in the SUB or UC studying while the football game is being played... and I never liked those guys anyway.

I think most of you missed by two points

1) The Athletic Dept just solved about 10% of their budget problem on the backs of the students. Would fees be going up if there was not a money problem? If an organization can not keep track of its funds, then heads should roll. If the college was run like a business, then heads would be rolling out the door. There is no accuse is having a budget short fall of this amount.

2) My next point was that future-recruiting efforts would be cut back. This will have an effect on attracting future athletes to the college. This could help the Cats.

Well, I got your point and I think students are missing this point: they have been paying lower fees than most, tickets for football are free to students and the fact remains they should have increased the activity fee several years ago. Simple econ: if you have more money in hand you can spend more money. If you don't you have a deficit. ASUM wanted the deficit addressed and heads to roll but didn't understand that they need to pony up and pay more money just like everyone else...This was not a problem that came about in the last 2, 3 or 4 years, this has been an ongoing issue that simply came to light this spring...

As I understand it the raise in the UM athletic fee was proposed BEFORE this problem came to light. UM last fall proposed raising the athletic fee to be more inline with what other "peer institutions were". If this whole issue had not come to light, when it did, I actually think the raise in athletic fee would have been in effect as of start of UM school in fall 2004 instead of as now planed fall of 2005. I find that ironic, but predictable.

As far as their reduction of recruiting budget I am not sure that it will help MSU athletics in the short term or maybe even long term. The reduction of recruiting budget will force the Griz to recruit more closely to home. More imoprtance may be given to landing the athletes in Montana, Idaho and Washington and fewer recruing trips to Florida or any eastern states. California is so rich in talent that you can see dozens of athletes in one trip so I highly doubt their recruiting of California will slow down one bit. Montana State and Montana only seem to bump head recruiting in Idaho, Montana, and Washington. I really do not think that Montana'a finacial problems will have much of an impact over the recruitng wars from these states. Outside of those states we really do not cross paths that often, so the chance we will steal an athlete, that might have gone there insted of here, is remote. The only way I see this helping us is if over the years the limited recruiting budget gennerally effects the quality of the athletes they are able to recruit by not being able to cast their net very far, and thus the program begins a slow decline. I really think that this could effect teams like basketball and Volleyball, that depends on atheletes that can be recruited and contribute quickly. In football you generally do not count on a player until they have been in the program for two or so years. I bet you, also, that the Griz alum. / faithful will some how figure out how to start pumping a little bit more money into the football recruiting budget.

Bozgriz wrote:Well, I got your point and I think students are missing this point: they have been paying lower fees than most, tickets for football are free to students and the fact remains they should have increased the activity fee several years ago.

Bozgriz, this isn't just you that I disagree with concerning this statement, because I have seen countless others make the same mistake. Students absolutely DO NOT get their tickets for free, we pay for them just as everyone else does. Our ticket prices are disguised under the cloak of the athletic fee, however. When you pay tuition, you hardly even bother going through all the nickel and dime fees that end up adding $1500 to your tuition, but that one is in there. I think universities do pretty well by this system, too. If you figure that 3,000 students attend each football game, but 12,000 students are paying the athletic fee, I would surmise that they are profitting off us poor students just the same as they are profitting off of season ticket holders.

Don't misunderstand me for complaining, though. I have no problem paying an athletic fee, even at UM where I could care less about their athletic teams. Our fee also pays for our gym membership and intermurals, both of which I use and enjoy. It isn't the school's fault if each student doesn't utilize all the great things provided to them, and they certainly don't have the resources nor the energy to deal with each student on an individual basis. I am all for supporting an institution's sports teams, because I believe they play an integral role in a student's development. What I don't like is raising the athletic fee as a solution to a department's incompetance in balancing their budget. Conveniently, they managed to do this after the students had left for the summer. If they had a plan to balance their budget, did it, and then raised the fee, I would have much less of a problem. As it is, even us part-timers in the summer (clinical internship) get stuck paying a bunch of fees. Damn the system!!!