Last year, Rutgers used nearly $27 million in university and student-fee money to balance its athletics budget. It was not unusual: Since 2006, Rutgers has spent more than $115 million to cover athletics spending, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Also last year, Rutgers said it would withhold scheduled negotiated raises for its employees because of state funding cuts, a move expected to save $30 million.
The battle between academics and athletics is brewing nationally. Subsidies account for $1 of every $3 spent on athletics at NCAA Division I schools. Since 2006, athletics budgets at 219 Division I public schools have increased 22%, and subsidies — the part of the budget that comes from student fees and university money — have increased 26%.
But no athletics program has matched Rutgers’ subsidies; $115 million is the highest for any public school and nearly twice the subsidy of the next highest school among the power conferences — those whose football champions automatically qualify for the Bowl Championship Series.
Read the full story at USA Today.
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