An Open Letter from the President of ASCA: Endow your Program

By Bill Wadley

AS ASCA president I was asked to begin work on developing a running list of programs that currently have endowed scholarships. If your program has endowed scholarships please email John Leonard (ASCA executive director) who will compile this information at the ASCA office. You can email John at: JLeonard@swimmingcoach.org

Over the last several years I have enjoyed the opportunity to share and discuss with many of my collegiate coaching friends my view on the importance of endowing scholarships for the future of our swimming programs. Quite simply, I believe that we have a moral obligation to include as one of our job responsibilities the work of endowing our
programs' scholarships to protect and preserve swimming opportunities for the athletes of the future.

Athletic departments across the United States are in a bind. As operating costs continue to rise for every aspect of intercollegiate athletics, many athletic departments are finding it difficult to continue providing the ongoing funding for both scholarships and the ever-increasing budgets for most sports. While this financial instability affects all of the athletic
departments' programs, it has been especially hard on the Olympic sports (or “non-revenue” sports as some see it).

Money aside, we as coaches know the value that our sport brings to the lives of the athletes it serves. However, at the same time, we also know that the opportunity we help to provide has a cost associated with it that continues to escalate at an alarming rate. It has become obvious to me, even though I coach at the institution with the largest athletic budget in the United States that I too am responsible for the future of my program.
Although we have sufficient funding today, I know I must do my very best to help bring support to the table for the future of our program.

Realistically, I recognize that collegiate swimming meets generally do not generate revenue and that consequently I need to work hard to bring financial support to the athletic department to help offset the costs associated with providing a college swimming program for our university.
It is my view that we must show we have support for our program through our community outreach efforts to provide endowments of all types (scholarships, staff, budget).

The need for this show of support grows stronger each year, with the steady increase in the cost of college tuition across the country. The national average for tuition (not including room, board, books and misc. expenses) was more than $12,000 this past year. This is a substantial expense for both the university which provides the scholarships, facilities, travel budget, equipment, coaching salaries and other related expenses as well as for the working families that are trying to send their children to college.

The average tuition increase each year for the past six years at most four year institutions has been about 8%, which means the athletic department or university in some cases must continue to find new revenue streams each year to cover the costs associated with providing athletic scholarships.
In addition, the related costs of providing a program with its budget is also stressed each year with continued escalation of expenses related to travel, lodging, equipment and salaries.

As the cost of college attendance continues to rise at an alarming rate we find ourselves at a crossroads that I believe challenges us to look outward for support as often as possible. This will allow us to show the athletic department and university that we have both the alumni and community fully engaged in our programs and the value that our programs
provide to the athletes is indeed an important one.

Where does this money come from?

Many who are not involved on a daily basis may have the misconception that athletic departments that offer scholarships are using state tax dollars to pay for them; or that athletic departments do not actually pay the university the cost of each scholarship and instead that the university merely waives the fee. However, both assumptions are untrue for most
institutions.

Here at Ohio State last year, our athletic department paid the university 12 million dollars for the scholarships of all the student athletes on scholarship.

This amount will increase each year to the point that most universities must do one of three things to stay in the black:
· Increase ticket prices for football and basketball
· Increase revenue streams from seat license sales, marketing etc.
· Increase revenue from gifts, donations, and endowments

How can we help?

We can become a part of the solution by starting today to reach out to our alumni, friends and community leaders to share the wonderful story of our sport and the value it adds to the collegiate experience in so many ways. I’m sure we all have testimonials from former athletes who would say that their college swimming experience was one of the most important things in their lives and that they still today use those team building, goal setting, work ethic and other related skills each and every day in their lives. Many, I’m sure, would say that the opportunity to represent their University has changed their lives forever in a most powerful way.

Secondly, it is also important to begin educating our student athletes early so they are aware of how their experience is funded. This awareness will not only help them appreciate the opportunity provided them but may help them understand how they can help in the future.

Involve your students with your alumni through team functions, letters from current team members to donors. Simple Thank You notes to those who are your teams donors can be of help to keep those currently engaged in your program to continue giving.

As you can see, I believe this competitive swimming opportunity is worth our energy and that those who have gained so much from this experience will indeed support our efforts to protect this opportunity for others.

Please feel free to email me your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for the “Health of Collegiate Swimming” at:
wadley.1@osu.edu

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