How University of Houston Spends Student Fees Sparks Debate

University of Houston students on Wednesday will try to convince the university system’s board of regents to allocate a portion of funds generated by student fees to pay for student services instead of the university’s athletics program.

As reported by The Texas Tribune, the university’s Student Fee Advisory Committee, a state-mandated panel of students charged with recommending how student fees should be allocated each year, suggested last fall that the school reduce the approximately $8.3 million in student fees it sends to the athletic department by $1.5 million. They argued that the university’s shift to the Big 12 Athletic Conference last year increased the department’s revenue and the school should depend less on student fees.

“UH has finally received the invitation we have long deserved, and with it, a substantial increase in revenue has been experienced, and is expected to continue,” the committee’s recommendation states, as reported by the Tribune. “In light of the revenue increases, the university’s approach to the athletics subsidy, and past commitments athletics has made to wean off student service fees, the committee has elected to put athletics on a subsidy reduction plan in line with the university’s.”

About half of the student fees allocated toward athletics go toward repaying debt from the construction of a new football stadium and basketball arena, as approved by a 2012 student referendum, according to Kate McGee of the Tribune, adding that the other half goes toward the athletic department’s operating budget.

According to the student fee committee, UH students who take six or more credit hours are paying $260 in student fees per semester this academic year. That funding is used to fund a variety of student services and departments on campus.

The committee recommends which departments receive funding from student fees after a semester-long review process, McGee reported.

Committee members said a portion of the student fee money that goes to athletics programs should now be used to fund student services on campus, particularly the campus child care center, the counseling center and certain programs that help students dealing with drug or alcohol addiction. Last year, two UH students died by suicide on campus within six weeks of each other.

“Athletics and athletics program on campus is a means to an end, not the end itself. The primary mission statement of the institution is to provide quality higher education,” sophomore Yusuf Kadi, co-chair of the committee, told The Texas Tribune. “The way you do that is by having high-quality services because if students do not receive support in times of mental health troubles or other issues, that's more likely for them to drop out and not make it through the program.”

As reported by McGee, the committee also recommended the school conduct an external review of how the athletics department uses student fees. Members felt the athletics department was not transparent with the committee about how it uses the money and could not adequately explain how it used it to benefit the student body.

Earlier this month, UH president Renu Khator rejected the student fee committee’s recommendations, the first time she has done so in 16 years, McGee reported. In two memos attached to her rejection letter, administrators argued that athletics funding from student fees has remained flat over the past 14 years, even as operating costs and university support for athletics have increased.

They also said that reducing the amount allocated toward athletics would put the university below the average amount of student fees provided to athletic departments at peer institutions within the Big 12 Athletic Conference. Administrators pointed to the University of Central Florida and the University of Cincinnati, which allocate about $23 million and $9 million, respectively, in student fees toward athletics.