Northern State University isn’t putting much faith in our legislators’ “relationships” to get the funding it needs to finish its building projects. With construction costs rising, NSU president Tim Downs announced at last night’s scholarship gala that, having reached 98% of its 45-million-dollar goal, Northern is raising its “Educational Impact Campaign” goal to $55 million:
That additional $10 million would cover increased construction costs and updated designs for an athletic complex that will include Dacotah Bank Stadium for football and Koehler Hall of Fame Softball Field. Other projects covered by the Educational Impact Campaign are Northern’s athletic and recreation fields and a new South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired [Katherine Grandstrand, “NSU Ups Fundraising Goal to $55 Million for Stadium and Campaus Improvements,” Aberdeen American News, 2018.11.17].
I suppose I should be relieved that Northern isn’t turning to taxpayers entirely to fund football and softball facilities being branded as “educational impact” projects. Some research suggests that increased athletic success correlates with increased alumni sports donations and higher average test scores among incoming students, but that doesn’t show that building new sports fields means teams win more games or that that winning then turns into universities producing better educational outcomes.
Jason Lanter, an assistant professor of psychology at Kutztown University and past president of the Drake Group, a faculty organization that has urged greater scrutiny of big-time athletics in higher education, said colleges need to look at the report with a grain of salt and realize that athletic success has a minimal impact on academics.
He said he is concerned about how an investment to boost athletic success would impact opportunities for students. “We need to think about the impact that this has on an institution as an educational system,” he said. “If our mission is to educate young people, help them prepare for after college, then what does athletics do to help benefit that after college component?”
He and Anderson both said that since a lot of Football Bowl Subdivision teams still lose money, the positive effects outlined in this report aren’t enough to justify additional spending [Elise Young, “The Gridiron Payoff?” Inside Higher Ed, 2012.07.03].
I would suspect that a more direct educational impact could be had by collecting that $55 million in mad money via a state income tax and dedicating it to tuition relief. Collect $55 million now, hand it to the South Dakota Investment Council to make grow at 10% a year, and collect a mere million dollars more each year from those eager donors (who, remember, have the cushion to throw around $44 million in just one year), and we could hand out $2,200 (and index that amount to 3% annual inflation) to 2,000 Northern students a year for thirty years without touching the principal. Index that million in annual income tax to a similar 3% (because the rich will get richer, right?), and we keep this tuition assistance fund in the black for another twenty years.
That tuition reduction would go a long way toward knocking down South Dakota’s third-highest net prices for public university education. Low-income students don’t need a bigger stadium to watch others play football; they need lower tuition costs so they can get in the educational game themselves, succeed in the classroom, and get the degrees they need to boost their economic prospects, not to mention their civic morality and intelligence.
Help everyone go to college, or build more spaces where everyone can watch a couple dozen people play games. You tell me which will have more direct educational impact.
Any idea how much the cost of construction can be tied into Drumpf’s tariffs?
How much does one have to contribute to get naming rights?
That’s a very good question, Mike, one that is not answered in the press coverage.
But let’s see what builders say:
Too bad our Republican delegation doesn’t relationships that they can use to end the tariffs that are costing NSU more money for its sports projects.
O, more than Dacotah Bank and Sanford Health, who already have dibs.
And for parents all across America. Little Debbie Nutty Bars went up fro $1.79 to $1.99 per box this week. Gas in town is $2.36 for gasahol.
Not that I’m going to complain about cheap fill-ups for Thanksgiving, but it always surprises me to see a gallon of gasoline cost less than a gallon of milk.
Teams, er, I mean schools, that are big success stories make money on football. That would be Alabama, perennial champions. A few others do quite well too. Michigan’s football stadium holds 100,000+ I believe, and it gets sold out. That’s a lotta moola just in tickets.
Others, like the Minnesota Gophers, think that if they build fancier and more expensive facilities for sports, success will magically follow. They’re just completing an “Athlete’s Village” for something like $65 mil so I’m sure the male teams will become instant raging successes. (For purely sexist reasons the highly successful women’s teams don’t seem to count.) This year’s football team is finishing another losing season and the 5-6 year old stadium isn’t even half full. That was going to fix everything too.
We talked about high school sports becoming divorced from schools. The need is critical for many colleges.
The increase in costs of products affected by the stupid tariff war doesn’t bother as much as having to have my ID with me to buy my Cheerios.
Why do you need your ID? I like Cheerios too. 😁
As a public entity, shouldn’t NSU have to disclose the amounts their donors gave? I would be curious on the terms that NSU and Dacotah Bank agreed to for the naming rights!
$80 million worth of projects going on at NSU…I would say thats a lot invested into Aberdeen. Close to what the soybean plant has in building permits.
New math and science center
new football stadium
new softball diamond
new soccer fields
new football practice facility
new school for the blind
That doesn’t include the major remodel at the fine arts center and 3 new residence halls.
3 new residence halls? Is my alma mater growing or are they demolishing old ones? Which ones? I hope they’re taking care of the grander old buildings, Lincoln and the one next to it. Forgot the name. Also those two across the green, Spafford and Admin.
BTW, they should name the softball fields for Diane (damn. What’s her last name?! Can’t find it online.) She started intercollegiate softball at NSC when I was there in 1975, coached it, and we went to the College World Series in 1975 and 76.
Well Debbo, Jerde and Lindberg Hall have been demolished. The school for the blind will be built where Jerde stood and a new residence hall was built where Lindberg was. Spafford hall was tore down and a residence hall was built there. To the west of Lincoln Hall (Still in great shape) is where they built the third hall. New Math and Science Center is built just east of the fine arts building and the Jim Koehler Hall of Fame Softball Field and Dacotah Bank Stadium will be built on the School for the Blind property. New FB practice field and Soccer Stadium was built just east of the old Jerde location.
I wouldn’t say NSU is growing but it is updating its facilities to get in line with the needs of today’s students.
DR, you raise an interesting public-records question. Alumni associations are private entities… although they exist only by dint of the public institutions that produced those alumni. But when a private donor gets to put his/her/its name on a public building, then yes, shouldn’t we know the source of the money that has captured that public building?