Paying for college:
We are proposing a $294,260.00 increase to athletic scholarships, so that all WOU sports can be funded at 60% of the NCAA maximum allowed equivalency. The NCAA has established maximum equivalency (scholarship) guidelines for Division II institutions. Every sport has a maximum limit of equivalencies they can offer. The GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference) conducts surveys each year to find out what schools are awarding in equivalencies. Currently, WOU awards the lowest amount of equivalencies in every sport with the exception of baseball, where we are next to the lowest.
Student Success is the primary driver for this proposal, in particular “1.2 Increase support for programs and activities that demonstrate and inspire academic excellence”. This year the WOU Women’s Basketball team earned the award of Highest GPA in the GNAC Conference for their sport for the third year in a row, the team GPA is 3.53. Last year WOU Athletics had 86 student athletes named to the GNAC All-Academic team, this award is given to student athletes who have completed one year at an institution and hold a minimum of a 3.20 GPA. Additionally, 48 of our student athletes are current Chi Alpha Sigma members, the National College Athlete Honor Society for student athletes of junior and senior standing. Chi Alpha Sigma requires members to have a minimum of a 3.40 GPA. WOU student athletes not only represent our university in competition but through their academic achievements.
By allowing for more athletic scholarships, our sports programs will have more opportunities to recruit talented student athletes. This increase in recruitment will aid in increasing enrollment and retention. Studies have shown that student athletes bring at least one person with them when they attend a school. Additionally, the Athletics department supports and encourages student athletes to graduate, our current student success rate is 78%. Increased opportunities to recruit talented student athletes will also aid in winning more championships. Winning more championships will bring more positive publicity and community engagement to Western Oregon University. Last year KPTV came to our campus twice for athletic purposes. They interviewed David Ribich, record breaking cross country and track student athlete, and the WOU Baseball team after their 17th GNAC Championship win. When the Men’s Basketball team brought the NCAA West Regional tournament to Western Oregon University last March, the bleachers were packed with Monmouth/Independence community members and alumni.
Teams will be able to recruit more talented student athletes, which will allow for improvement in competiveness and championship wins. Better athletic scholarship awards will also attract academically achieving students, which will contribute to the school’s completion rate. Improved athletic outcomes will bring more attention to WOU, which will help with enrollment and retention. Assessment will be made at the conclusion of the academic year by evaluating the department’s success rate and admission applications received. The initiative will be considered successful if the department’s success rate and admission applications received increase by 3%.
Due to early signing, implementation of funds would begin in October 2019. This will allow coaches enough time to recruit the students they need for their team. All funds will be awarded no later than May 1st, National Signing Day.
If our initiative is not funded, our department will continue to fundraise, however, it is unlikely we will be able to meet our needs.
Please see the attached equivalency survey for the GNAC.
There are no projected adverse impacts for this initiative if approval is given. There will be no additional costs or labor required.
Student athletes bring in a substantial amount of revenue even after their scholarships have been applied. During 2017-18 student athletes brought in $2,621,918.25 of tuition and fee revenue. After $1,052,440 in athletic scholarships was applied, the university netted $1,569,478.00. With this increase in scholarships, the university will still net over $1 million. Additionally, by recruiting talented student athletes our teams can become more successful. Athletic success will bring more attention to WOU’s campus and increase application numbers. This positive result is called the Flutie Effect. The Flutie Effect states that when a school does well in athletics, application numbers increase (Chung, 2013). Doug J. Chung, Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, expanded the research on the Flutie Effect and found that schools with football programs that went from mediocre to great increased application numbers by 17.7% (Chung, 2013). The only way he saw similar numbers in applications was through reducing tuition by 3.8% or recruiting higher-quality faculty, which resulted in 5% pay increase (Chung, 2013). Chung (2013) concluded that the direct impact of athletic success on admission applications numbers was due to increased awareness and American culture. Successful teams generate positive publicity which increases school visibility (Chung, 2013). Due to American culture being sports centric, game environments allow for social bonding between students and can improve alumni engagement (Chung, 2013). Chung, D. J. (2013, April 30). The Dynamic Advertising Effect of Collegiate Athletics. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication Files/13-067_99c551d6-c484-4245-9e49-964d2283cd98.pdf
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