Putting the Buck in Buckeyes
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In case you wondered, not all Ohio State students are created equally.
If you're an athlete, a recent Wall Street Journal article has some good news: the University spends an average of $110,000 out of its $109 million sports budget on each one of you.
Of course, much of that money goes to things like private jet hours for football coach Jim Tressel and basketball coach That Matta, but the perks definitely trickle down to the athletes themselves.
Let's see, there's the football practice facility that just got $19.5 million in upgrades, so that it now includes a juice bar, six flat panel TVs, and three video game systems. Whatever it takes to get your game to the next level, right?
The hockey teams have this sweet treadmill that allows them to work on their ice skating at speeds up to 16 m.p.h. And the golf team gets to play on a course designed by none other than the Golden Bear himself, who is an OSU alumnus. Oh yeah, and there's the $20 million facility for the synchronized swimming team.
The non-athletes undoubtedly get a good education, it's just that they're paying more than ever for it. When funding was tight in the early 2000s, Ohio State didn't even think about cutting back on athletics; no, the obvious response was to raise tuition 60% in a four-year span.
So without knowing the actual tuition figures, you have to wonder how it stacks up to the approximately $36,700 that the University puts back into education for each non-athlete student.
Anyway, if you're wondering how the Buckeyes pull this off, remember that not all Ohio State University athletic programs are created equally, either. Sports like fencing, track, and lacrosse make either nothing or close to it, while football and basketball shoulder the profit load for the entire program.
According to the article, Ohio State was one of just 19 universities in the country to turn a profit, though it didn't say how much. I don't know how the money will be spent, but I hear the badminton team is running dangerously low on shuttlecocks.
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