Upon further looking into it, I found that the total cost of attendance at SU is estimated at over $91,000 per year for undergrads living on campus. The tuition DEFINITLY includes an athletics fee, but it is hidden and because SU is a private school, they don't report these numbers (but ironically Newhouse received a grant to track them). The only real analysis I have been able to find is an article from 2020 about this fee and the surprise/frustration of students who don't want to pay for athletics and don't really know they are, (I coincidentally made reference to this in an earlier post). That fee can be incorporated into student loans, and when amortized over the period of the loan, can add up to a substantial amount being paid down over years, (the article suggests the JMU student they highlight might pay $10,000 in accrued interest on athletics fees over the life of the loan).
NBC News found that college students are paying a rising cost, sometimes thousands of dollars, to support athletic programs — fees that don't always appear on their tuition bills.
www.nbcnews.com
The article's data doesn't include SU, but suggests that for a school of our size and stature/budget, about 5%-10% of our athletic budget is covered by the student athletics fee. To look at it another way, a fair guess would be $1,000 a year per student, (some are as high as $2500 a year and 50% of the athletic budget). I will estimate our budget at $85 million and our enrollment at 22,000. That is $22 million a year based on fee per student and $4.25 million - $8.5 million based on % of budget. Again, this is all guesswork given that SU doesn't report. That is not nothing.
Also keep in mind that the University, and not the AD covers the cost of scholarships to athletes typically, so that is above and beyond the AD budget. Game attendance plays a role too as FBS requires an average attendance of 15k. If the school is not able to achieve that through normal sales, they cover it with the student fee (subsidized cost of student tickets). I assume this can also be used to "manufacture" sell outs.
Syracuse University's cost of attendance includes tuition, housing and meal costs, health insurance, and other direct and indirect expenses.
www.syracuse.edu
2024-25 Cost of Attendance
Undergraduate Students (Living On Campus)
Tuition - $63,710
Housing & food (average) - $19,188
Miscellaneous fees* - $ 1,818
Books, course materials, supplies, and equipment - $1,753
Transportation - $796
Personal expenses - $1,228
Loan fees (if applicable) - $67
Total Cost of Attendance - $88,560
Health insurance** - $2,474
Total Cost of Attendance (with health insurance) - $91,034
*The residential internet, cable access, and service fee is a mandatory fee for all who sign a Syracuse University housing contract.
**This mandatory fee may be waived if the student has adequate private health insurance.
