Anybody have any good data as to what % of a $200K 4-year degree actually goes to pay faculty and classrooms, vs. stadium, $2m/year football coach, etc.?
[1]http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Spring2020/sp20... [2]http://www.budgets.gatech.edu/Fees?id=6
It certainly can be done. Iowa also has a balanced budget provision in its constitution. Not sure if it's in any way related, but it'd be understandable that taxpayers wouldn't want to be pouring money into athletics programs. That's not the primary intent of funding universities.
I don't have a quick summary of all the financials of all the schools in the country and whether athletics is a net positive/negative. I did find a datasource which could at least guide the discussion. [1] An anecdote doesn't prove the rule - but can help make a case that "it can be done".
Iowa, Iowa State, and University of Northern Iowa are ranked 18, 47, and 142 respectively out of 230 programs listed. Georgia Tech is #42. The three Iowa universities, each in different divisions with vastly different TV revenue share agreements, represent 2.3% of total revenue on the list.
Now, all three have "Student Fees" listed as a portion of their funding. I'm not certain how these are assessed and how it works per the rules the Iowa Board of Regents (governing body) set. The total of student fees is 4.75M out of 245M in revenue. The only university where it'd be a real game changer would be UNI (2M out of 20M revenue).
Your argument is kind of moot, then. Your citation is filled with caveats about the nature of the revenue/expense reporting.
I admit I do not have the numbers to back it up, so attack it all you want, but it is undeniable a high amount of social cohesion is created by these sporting events at many schools. Is it ideal - no - but like marketing, it is often about what people want rather than what they say they want.
Football money gets spent to prop up other sports in college, typically, and that's where the confusion may be here. I'm sure there are some schools charging some minor fees to students for one athletic program or another, but its not like tuition is going towards football, by and large. At my alma mater, the football program pays into the university (UF).