UI athletics agrees to share the wealth with university

University of Iowa officials announced Thursday that the UI Department of Athletics provided $2 million in direct support for the broader university last year. The department will provide an additional $2 million this year and plans to continue such direct support into the future.

The announcement comes more than a year after UI President Bruce Harreld challenged the department to find ways to reinvest athletic revenue into the university's core academic mission. 

"These funds help to advance project and initiative efforts supporting all students on our campus. Our plan is to continue to identify additional projects moving forward," UI athletics director Gary Barta said Thursday in a campus-wide message. “This new initiative is important because, beyond competing athletically, we have a commitment and an obligation to promote student success in the classroom."

The $2 million provided during the 2016-17 academic year was spent on "student success and faculty salaries," Jeneane Beck, a UI spokeswoman, said via email. The $2 million budgeted for the current academic year will be dedicated towards "(recreational) services, diversity programming and student life."

The extra funding comes after Iowa's three public universities experienced more than $30 million in cuts in state funding. The presidents of UI and Iowa State University have asked the Iowa Board of Regents to increase tuition by 7 percent a year for the next five years to help offset those losses.

The regents, who oversee Iowa's public universities, have convened a Tuition Task Force this summer to discuss long-term tuition strategies. The task force is scheduled to report back to the full board in September.

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Several state lawmakers recently urged UI and ISU to look at the revenue received from the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences as a way to further cover some of those losses. UI's decision, they said, is a step in the right direction. 

“I’m very pleased to hear this because I am committed to making sure that our tuition is affordable to all students,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City. “With all the ways that the athletics department benefits the university, contributing to scholarship funds for (student success) is so important.”

Some worry, however, that their legislative colleagues may use the additional revenue as an excuse to cut the university's state funding proportionally.

"I’d like to see that funding grow larger and become something that can be counted on by the university," said Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines. "But I don’t want the legislature to look at this as a way to get out of funding the university."

Barta said the $2 million passed along to the university during the 2016-17 academic year was in addition to the roughly $23 million paid by the department in the form of tuition, room and board, medical support, parking and other reimbursements.

"Making these financial contributions to the university is a tangible way of demonstrating Hawkeye pride and our commitment to the importance of public higher education," Barta wrote. "Intercollegiate athletics is nothing without an esteemed university as its foundation."

The $2 million pledged for the current academic year makes up 1.7 percent of the department's $117 million budget approved by the regents last month.

State funding for UI's general operating fund fell $15.4 million this year — from $232.2 million at the beginning of 2016-17 to $216.8 million at the beginning of 2017-18.

Iowa isn't the only university exploring the financial intersection of athletics and academics. But there are widespread concerns that diverting funds will undercut the competitiveness of athletic programs, and few colleges actually see dollars flowing from sports to the classroom.

A 2016 report by The Chronicle of Higher Education found that 40 athletics departments at U.S. universities reported giving money to academics, but in reality, only 10 of those provided more funding than they received in subsidies. Four of those 10 were members of the Big Ten.

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Iowa State administrators have made no such challenge to their athletics department. 

"There are no plans to transfer athletics revenue to the general fund of the university to make up for budget cuts the university sustained," John McCarroll, a spokesman for ISU, told the Register earlier this summer. "The Iowa State Athletics Department is a self-supporting unit."

During the 2016-17 academic year, the university's athletics department provided about $24.7 million "in direct and indirect support to other ISU departments and entities," McCarroll said. That total includes $15.3 million for tuition, room and board; $3.6 million for facilities and maintenance; $2.9 million for university services; and nearly $3 million for other services.

The athletic program at the University of Northern Iowa is not self-sustaining.

The Missouri Valley Conference provides UNI with a small fraction of the revenue that the Big Ten gives UI and the Big 12 gives ISU. As a result, UNI officials supplement the athletic department’s budget with about $4 million annually from the university’s general fund.

There have been legislative proposals in recent years to require UI and ISU to cover UNI’s athletic shortfall, but those bills have never made it out of committee.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffCharis.