With the basketball season taking over most of San Diego State students’ time recently, the importance of sports is apparent on this campus. It’s become so vital to the school, that an estate gift from Bob and Robin Sinclair of $1.25 million has been donated to launch the Coryell Legacy, a program focused on providing scholarship support for student athletes. Scholarships are a godsend when attending college, but don’t donations such as this favor athletes over academics? When looking over the stats, it becomes clear that there is more money being spent on funding athletics than on educating students.
Although not alumni, the Sinclair’s have been donors since 2012. According to Associate Athletic Director for Development Bob Moosbrugger, the Sinclair’s have seen the student-athletes not only perform on the field or court but have had the chance to interact with them at most of the events. They appreciate the poise it takes to balance academics with the rigors of being a Division 1 athlete. However, if all of high school was spent focusing on their college and pro careers, where did school fit in?
Moosbrugger explained that the primary goal each year is to raise the funds needed for the Department of Athletics’ commitment to student-athlete scholarships, this fiscal year the commitment is $7.6 million.
“With the anticipated approval on new NCAA legislation allowing for a scholarship to reflect the true cost of attendance, which $7.6 million would turn into $8.2 million at minimum,” Moosbrugger said.
How much funding does the department really need? If there is a minimum, what determines the maximum?
The Coryell Legacy is separate from The Campaign for SDSU, in which the former focuses only on athletes while the latter benefits any department a donor wants to fund.
In regards to the benefits the Coryell Legacy will have, it certainly favors the student-athlete recipients of these scholarships. Even more so, Moosbrugger explained that having these scholarships to offer potential student-athletes, helps coaches recruit the best possible student-athletes. This becomes unfair to students who work hard in high school academically, but don’t get the same advantages as potential athletic recruits. The process of recruitment for academic geniuses is hardly the same. How can you weigh the importance of a scholar versus an athlete?
It has been shown that public universities competing in NCAA Division 1 sports spend as much as six times more per athlete than they spend to educate students. SDSU competes in Division 1 basketball and several other sports. The school clearly favors this department. Sports bring in money for the school and are therefore necessary to invest in. Collegiate athletes bring in so much publicity to their school that they become the ultimate unpaid intern.
Although being recruited based on athletic talent in high school is an accomplishment, how long will most of their sports careers last? The likelihood of most of these very dedicated and talented athletes becoming professionals in any sport is statistically slim. According to the NCAA, only baseball saw more than 2 percent of NCAA players go pro. Basketball sees 1.2 percent play professionally while football only sends 1.7 percent to the pros. The cost of funding an athletic department involves a large risk in comparison to the cost of investing in students’ academic abilities in fields where they’ll certainly spend their careers.
The Coryell Legacy adds more funds to sports in addition to The Campaign at SDSU. This year, the fundraising goal has increased to 700 million dollars, which is donated to specific departments around campus, and that fund alone provides a solid foundation for athletics without the added support of the Coryell Legacy. Favoring athletics over academics is noticed and although these sports keep college spirit alive, the amount of money being prioritized on sports is the real issue at hand.
