UW increases tuition and fees, but it doesn't look like any

[Cowboy Junky]

We have enough people arguing that we don't need to spend anymore money on athletics. As far as I'm concerned, those people can cheer for CSU.

One of the problems with the University is it's lack of personal accountability and it's indifference towards athletics. They won't try anything because they're afraid to fail. Try this, dominate the MWC for a couple of years, and watch the enrollment jump. It works at every other school in the country.

No where did I argue that we shouldn't spend more money on Athletics. In this day and age, it appears you buy your success or have to get really lucky. Combine that with trying to recruit out-of-state talent to Laramie, and you have a bigger issue on your hands. I'd be all for the state helping to increase the athletics department funding.

However, I am staunchly against increasing athletic department funding at the cost of finding the rest of the university. The University of Wyoming's goal as a land-grant institute is to teach the people of Wyoming. It's not to provide the people of Wyoming with a winning football team. Maybe if they raised in-state tuition a bit, they'd be able to better fund the faculty and staff at the university, bringing them up closer to the level of their peer institutions, and then they wouldn't have to spend the state money to do so.

I'm not saying we should fund athletics by sacrificing academics. We have the lowest tuition out of any pier school in the country. It's not even close. It's dirt f'ing cheap. I'm saying we should increase tuition or fees to fund athletics a reasonable amount. I'm not talking 10 million a year, but they need a hell of a lot more than 300,000.

The way Wyoming does business is to beg the state for money and then bitch when they don't get it. They cry about professor retention, but refuse to raise money on their own. Yes, the constitution states that UW education should be close to free. That doesn't mean free, it means inexpensive for the students compared to the rest of the nation. Even if they passed a 300 dollar student fee, we would still have the lowest tuition in our pier group by far.

They won't though. They'll be content with their 300,000 dollar increase to the athletics budget for the next ten years: referring back to it every time our football team finishes 3-9.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

I would think bigger. Two big issues that need to be addressed by the little dogs. Since the big dogs will have their own mini-regulatory body, we should be afforded the same luxury. Since they can do things like pay players, we should decide how many sports we offer. Next, we need to make Title IX apply only to non-revenue sports if you have an athletic budget less than x dollars. That way, more of the revenue generated in bball and football can stay in football and bball.

The University can decide how much to allocate to other sports and academics from there.

 

[McPeachy]

I think I'd agree with spindoctor here. Pleeeeease fund athletics more!

Don't take away from the rest of the university to do it. Find a way!

"spindoctor02 wrote:
Saying the enrollment increased because their football team was good is laughable at best, and verging on idiotic at worst."

You do? LOL!

 

[BJC]

I have a crazy idea...leave student fees alone. How about more corp sponsorship? Not the pepsi adds they used-maybe still do play on the big screen but get nike...ua...or whatever. Place logos within and outside the stadium, etc. Of course you must win.....so chicken/egg situation but still. Get more apparel out. It is extremely hard to find good wyo apparel outside of the area. Market fb across the state/area. Billboards.....transportation packages, etc. Sell beer in the stadium---responsibly.

*Some of this could be going on currently but it appears to be lacking. :twocents: ramblings

 

[SnowyRange]

The way Wyoming does business is to beg the state for money and then bitch when they don't get it. They cry about professor retention, but refuse to raise money on their own. Yes, the constitution states that UW education should be close to free. That doesn't mean free, it means inexpensive for the students compared to the rest of the nation. Even if they passed a 300 dollar student fee, we would still have the lowest tuition in our pier group by far.

Not sure this makes any sense.

Of course UW deals with the legislature for its money. It's a state university. That's its first source of money.

Its second major source is student tuition and fees. And raising those has an effect on the first source. There is political pressure to keep student costs down, which pressure is enforced by a simple tactic: "Oh, you're going to get more money from students? Great. We can lower what the state gives you."

The third major source is the foundation...fund raising from private sources. And there's a whole team out there working on that.

There's a whole bunch of folks at UW working every day to figure out how raise revenue and run that place well. They can't snap their fingers and have money magically appear.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

The way Wyoming does business is to beg the state for money and then bitch when they don't get it. They cry about professor retention, but refuse to raise money on their own. Yes, the constitution states that UW education should be close to free. That doesn't mean free, it means inexpensive for the students compared to the rest of the nation. Even if they passed a 300 dollar student fee, we would still have the lowest tuition in our pier group by far.

Not sure this makes any sense.

Of course UW deals with the legislature for its money. It's a state university. That's its first source of money.

Its second major source is student tuition and fees. And raising those has an effect on the first source. There is political pressure to keep student costs down, which pressure is enforced by a simple tactic: "Oh, you're going to get more money from students? Great. We can lower what the state gives you."

The third major source is the foundation...fund raising from private sources. And there's a whole team out there working on that.

There's a whole bunch of folks at UW working every day to figure out how raise revenue and run that place well. They can't snap their fingers and have money magically appear.

The state had to tell UW to "raise your own damn money" this year.

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2014/03/27/opinion/doc532e53d95c650974856782.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's no surprise why we're lagging in athletics budget. Look around the conference our tuition is 2 or 3 times less then any other university in our league, not to mention nationally. Why is that? Is cost of living in Wyoming 2 or 3 times more: no. Is average income per citizen less: no, we're 8th out of 50 states in per capita income.

So why do we insist on trying to be competitive with other institutions, by giving away college for next to free?

Crying and bitching about budget cuts is exactly what UW did the last four years as we watched all of our professors go to schools in states with economies just as shi++y as Wyomings economy. Why couldn't we raise the tuition then and pay for them, instead of letting them all leave? Other schools managed to scrounge together the cash to pay our best professors during an economic crisis.

That's not the UW way. The UW way is to bitch, cry, and moan while begging the state for hand-outs and insisting to give away college education for a price less than half of most of the schools we compete against.

You get what you pay for. That's exactly the situation Wyoming finds itself in. Our professors are half-assed at best, our athletics teams haven't won a MWC title since 2002. Our trustees are a national joke after "Polack Fire Drilling" the recent hire of our last three presidents.

Hear's a ground breaking idea: if it hasn't worked since the late 80's, maybe it's time to change the approach. Maybe it's time to "Invest Real Money" in UW, instead of just building facilities to fill with cut rate hacks that no other university wants.

Spin it all you want. The reality is this: UW is dead last in tuition amongst every doctoral school in the nation. Our performance is dead last as well.

Maybe, for once the University and state of Wyoming should strive to be something other than the "cheapest". That's exactly what we are from the legislature, to the university, to the students: we're the cheapest collection of people in the U.S.A. Hooray for that.

 

[SnowyRange]

Hear's a ground breaking idea: if it hasn't worked since the late 80's, maybe it's time to change the approach. Maybe it's time to "Invest Real Money" in UW, instead of just building facilities to fill with cut rate hacks that no other university wants.

A. You despise and find fourth-rate the education and educators at UW. That is bizarre, badly misinformed and...frankly....sad.

B. As for your "ground breaking" idea: go talk to legislators. I do, every chance I get.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

Hear's a ground breaking idea: if it hasn't worked since the late 80's, maybe it's time to change the approach. Maybe it's time to "Invest Real Money" in UW, instead of just building facilities to fill with cut rate hacks that no other university wants.

A. You despise and find fourth-rate the education and educators at UW. That is bizarre, badly misinformed and...frankly....sad.

B. As for your "ground breaking" idea: go talk to legislators. I do, every chance I get.

That's right. When you need money to improve the University, you need to get in line at the "hand-out" table. You can't do it on your own.

"We can't increase tuition. It is written. We must be the cheapest cocksuckers in all the land."

I would be ashamed if I were UW. What message do we send with the lowest tuition in the country? We tell our students that UW isn't willing to invest more then ONE other school in the entire country.

"Yee-haw. We're the cheapest pricks in America. Our childrens education doesn't matter as much as saving a dollar."

 

[SnowyRange]

"We can't increase tuition. It is written. We must be the cheapest cocksuckers in all the land."

I would be ashamed if I were UW. What message do we send with the lowest tuition in the country? We tell our students that UW isn't willing to invest more then ONE other school in the entire country.

I agree that tuition is too low. That's exactly why you ought to talk to your legislators. As long as the state continues to want the lowest conceivable tuition, and the lowest possible state funding, then nothing about UW's revenues is going to change much.

 

[hithere]

The third major source is the foundation...fund raising from private sources. And there's a whole team out there working on that.

There's a whole bunch of folks at UW working every day to figure out how raise revenue and run that place well. They can't snap their fingers and have money magically appear.

Serious questions for you; is there a formal task force outside of normal day to day operations inside the Foundation that is doing this? How closely (if at all) does the Foundation work with the CJC?

Also, talking to legislators about UW's funding. Yes, that's a valiant effort. But it would also be nice if UW administrators had heftier cojones to advocate politically to the legislature to get the point across that not only are athletics falling behind, but lack of funding is driving away good educators, researchers and in-state incubation of small business. Knowing that all the folks at UW working hard every day attempting to raise revenue can't shit more money, is the need for extra (not alternative, but extra) revenue mentality pervasive enough that something actually changes? I'm not sure it's there yet.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

I don't know why the University can't change tuition without talking to the legislature. Announce that Wyoming is going to raise tuition 1000 dollars a student by 250 bucks a year over the next four years. How many senators do you think are going to vote for any state decrease in funding due to increase tuition? That's not the public voting record they want to have.

1000 per student with 12,000 students = 12,000,000. That's three million for athletics and nine million for academics. UW could add six million a year to the professor salary pool, and still spend 3 million a year on recruitment, retention...

Here's a novel thought. With 3 million a year in recruiting money and a successful athletics program, maybe Wyoming would see a spike an enrollment.

In the end, Wyoming would still have the lowest tuition in the MWC by far.

 

[SnowyRange]

Serious questions for you; is there a formal task force outside of normal day to day operations inside the Foundation that is doing this? How closely (if at all) does the Foundation work with the CJC?

Good question. I don't know if there is anything that formal. Maybe a CJC insider could answer that. I know the Foundation is always trying to match potential donors with what -- academic, athletic, other -- would most intrigue or satisfy them. I also works the other way, too: identifying a need and targeting likely donors.

Also, talking to legislators about UW's funding. Yes, that's a valiant effort. But it would also be nice if UW administrators had heftier cojones to advocate politically to the legislature to get the point across that not only are athletics falling behind, but lack of funding is driving away good educators, researchers and in-state incubation of small business. Knowing that all the folks at UW working hard every day attempting to raise revenue can't shit more money, is the need for extra (not alternative, but extra) revenue mentality pervasive enough that something actually changes? I'm not sure it's there yet.

UW lobbies that way constantly. Constantly. And, you're right, it's the Cheyenne mentality that needs to change. It seemed like 7-8 years ago (don't hold me to this) it was starting to shift. I feel like there's been a weird right-wing drift about money lately, leading to a retrenchment.

 

[SnowyRange]

I don't know why the University can't change tuition without talking to the legisleatur.

You know how this state works. The BOT is appointed by the governor, and the legislature controls the purse strings. You can precisely imagine the conversations that have to go on before things like that are done.

Which makes this the real point: it's not as if some cabal of UW employees has conspired to keep the tuition so low over all these years. It's the BOT, the Governor, and the legislators...all of whom are knotted together into one big ball.

I mean, good Lord, the Governor's own brother voted against even this year's 5% tuition increase.

 

[BackHarlowRoad]

We can't control what other people do. Complaining about them doesn't change things.

There are only two things I can think of that might make a difference....let your voice be heard to legislators loud and clear, or donate your own money.

Bitching and moaning to other powerless people on the internet won't change a damn thing.


p.s. UW can't raise tuition without legislature because UW is a public university. This isn't just Wyoming. All public institutions are funded mostly by the government.

 

[MedievalPoke]

The state constitution of Wyoming says "To the end that none of the youth of the state who crave the benefits of higher education may be denied, and that all may be encouraged to avail themselves of the advantages offered by the university or community colleges, tuition shall be as nearly free as possible..."

While there is a lot of other things in the state constitution about education, the basic goal is that tuition is to be as low as possible. That is why it is pulling teeth to get it raised. The real failure here is the state funding that has fairly large surpluses and yet fails to raise the amount given to UW.

 

[WYCowboy]

We can't control what other people do. Complaining about them doesn't change things.

There are only two things I can think of that might make a difference....let your voice be heard to legislators loud and clear, or donate your own money.

Bitching and moaning to other powerless people on the internet won't change a damn thing.


p.s. UW can't raise tuition without legislature because UW is a public university. This isn't just Wyoming. All public institutions are funded mostly by the government.

I would say the vast majority of people in the State of Wyoming don't know or are just apathetic about what the Wyoming Legislature & Governor are doing with their money. If we can educate even a few people about how the Wyoming government is neglecting the university that represents the entire State of Wyoming and get these bums kicked out of office, it is worthwhile.

 

[WyoExpat]

UW increases tuition and fees, but it doesn't look like any of the money is earmarked for athletics. It does look like any coach making less than 100,000 will get a raise. It looks like it might be possible for coaches to qualify for merit based raises. Still, this is disappointing. After the consultants report and all the debate about Wyoming's piddly ass budget, you would think someone would try to get athletics involved in the new money. When are they going to vote for a student fee to increase the athletics budget?

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2014/03/29/news/doc533638e75e05d736242386.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You do realize that a University's primary mission is to educate, right? The University has been fighting for a while a reputation that they can't pay their professors at the level of their competition, and as such, they are losing out on the best researchers and educators.

While all of us post to an athletics-focused message board, not everything related to UW is focused on athletics, no matter how much you want it to be.

+1

Additionally, even as a student who attended many games for even non-revenue sports, I would not want tuition money going to sports. That money is to pay for education--nothing else. Athletic Department $ needs to come from the student activity fees. Kids and their families have to pay interest on money borrowed to pay tuition costs. The Pokes are my team, but there is a limit to how much money I think all students should have to pay for alumni and fans to have bragging rights about football.

 

[BackHarlowRoad]

We can't control what other people do. Complaining about them doesn't change things.

There are only two things I can think of that might make a difference....let your voice be heard to legislators loud and clear, or donate your own money.

Bitching and moaning to other powerless people on the internet won't change a damn thing.


p.s. UW can't raise tuition without legislature because UW is a public university. This isn't just Wyoming. All public institutions are funded mostly by the government.

I would say the vast majority of people in the State of Wyoming don't know or are just apathetic about what the Wyoming Legislature & Governor are doing with their money. If we can educate even a few people about how the Wyoming government is neglecting the university that represents the entire State of Wyoming and get these bums kicked out of office, it is worthwhile.

I'd agree with that. And if those people we educate don't do anything about it themselves...we are just a group of people nagging to each other with nothing getting accomplished.

Bottom line....if you want something done...do it yourself.

 

[Hayduke]

Wyoexpat is right.

Tuition money should go to pay the costs associated with an education, not to fund athletic programs. Wyo athletics also has to be careful how it spends any taxpayer money. A nice little tax revolt in Wyoming could send the athletic department to D-III or worse...

 

[PokeOLoco]

I agree that tuition money needs to stay with academics. I want an across the board increase in spending for athletics which ARE the front porch of your university and at times your state, but targeting the students is the wrong vehicle towards that goal. This country is heading down a dangerous path with student loan debt. I'd be a CJC donor if it weren't for mine (I graduated not that long ago). The cost of few things has increased like the cost of college in America. We could debate why, but that's another topic. I don't think sports and a bunch of old guys many of whom with money (especially compared to a freshman in college) should be contributing to the enslavement of the next generation because they're trying to better themselves with a college degree and you want to win football games. I say that as someone who has an unhealthy and sick relationship with WYO football stemming from a desire to win football games. You see this is one thing about the mentality of Wyoming and some of the people in Wyoming that drives me crazy. Tax payer accountability? Tax revolt? Do you guys even pay taxes there? You have no income tax, low as hell property taxes, low corporate tax, low fuel tax. Not a bad thing that you keep more of your money than any other people in the country yet you're obsessed with the notion of being overtaxed and tax abused. Yes the money the cheap ass legislature has is tax money, and yes it's technically yours since you happen to live in that state, but YOU, the individual, contribute about $.000000001 for every $10 the oil and gas industry does. And it is the mentality of the citizenship that the like-minded citizen legislature uses to drive its who can be the cheapest bastard in the cheap bastard club contest.