SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA Roadrunners are looking for a big win next week — off the field.
The university launched the “Everyone W1NS” campaign, asking students to vote on a proposal to increase student athletics fees to help Roadrunners athletics compete in the future.
“You look at any great institution — it has a great athletics program, and we’re really the front porch of the institution,” said Dr. Lisa Campos, UTSA’s director of athletics.
Undergraduate students currently pay $20 per credit hour for athletics. The fee is capped at 12 hours, meaning a current full-time student pays $240 in student athletic fees per semester. If the proposal passes, the amount per credit hour would increase to $21.50. It’s $18 more per student, bringing the semester total to $258.
Under the proposal, the fee would also increase by $1.50 for the next five years, meaning a full-time student would pay $27.50 per credit hour by the start of the 2027-28 school year.
“We talked to student leaders, we talked to students on campus and we were really cognizant of cost inflation, all those things, and $1.50 did feel like the right amount for our students,” said Campos. “This fee hasn’t been increased since 2011. It was voted on in 2007 to increase through 2011. And really, what the students are paying now at $20 a credit hour equates to the spending power of $27 a credit hour.”
UTSA made the jump to the American Athletic Conference this summer. Of the nine public schools in the conference, UTSA is fifth in terms of annual student fees.
But, according to UTSA, the university has the third lowest operating budget in the conference. UTSA is 11th out of 13 schools with a total operating budget of $39.1 million.
SMU, which is leaving for the ACC, has a $79.4 million budget. Temple, USF and Memphis are all over $60 million.
Student fees account for 35% of the UTSA athletics budget, and the university hopes this investment can keep them competitive with other schools in the league.
Campos noted during an interview with KSAT that the athletics department does not have access to state-appropriated funding and self-generates its revenue.
“We do that through ticket sales, through sponsorships, through philanthropic gifts,” said Campos. “There is concern about ‘How do we continue to thrive on the academic side? How do we continue to thrive on the athletic side?’ Both can happen at the same time. There are two different pockets funding models. Academic gets their funding. Athletics generates our funding.”
UTSA students will vote on the proposal on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26. If it passes, it will go into effect by Spring 2024.
Campos feels confident this campaign will help the Roadrunners stay competitive and add to the game-day experience for everyone.
“Last year alone, our total audience through athletic events was 5.5 billion. That is 5.5 billion folks who learned about UTSA through athletics. The ad equivalency value to that was over $200 million, through all of the visibility and exposure athletics gave to this institution,” said Campos.
The student athletics fee is used to support UTSA’s 17 Division I women’s and men’s sports programs. A good amount of the budget goes to team travel and home event costs.
The proposed athletics fee increase will also go toward programs such as SOSA, Rowdy Crew, ROTC, and UTSA Cheer, as well as expanding the Classroom to Career Training program. The budget does not include any athletics fees allocated for coaches’ salaries.
“Society places a high value on sports, so how do we capitalize on that for the rest of the 36,000 students who come to UTSA? We do that by providing brand recognition and building our brand, adding value to your degree,” said Campos.
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