(01-24-2018 05:16 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

(01-24-2018 05:06 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-24-2018 02:51 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

(01-24-2018 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  No one avails themselves of all the amenities their community offers yet they pay for them via taxes.

While I get heartburn over unreasonable fees and over students being expected to invest more than the program generates from other sources, opting out makes no sense.

If you don't have kids chances are you never avail yourself the baseball, football, basketball, soccer, softball facilities that a city provides, nor the fitness center nor the pools. Maybe you don't use the library or the trails or the parks. Maybe you don't attend events at the local arena.

Your disinterest should not permit you to opt-out. Now you are free to vote for and campaign for candidates who will reduce or eliminate those expenditures but you don't get to reduce your tax bill for the stuff you don't use.

And I'll add that even if you don't use those amenities in your city, you still benefit from having them as they help to raise the standard of living in your community and your property value.

The same way, students who don't care about sports and never attend sporting events still benefit from going to a D1-A school as having that national brand and reputation that sports provide helps to increase the value of their degree.

There's zero evidence that, e.g., Appalachian State's degrees are more valuable because they are FBS now than when they were FCS.

But it's a hard truth that student fees and transfers have gone from $6m to $20m. That's $14m in cold cash lost every year.

You consider it lost and I consider it invested. That's the disconnect.

And App State has only been in the FCS for 3 years. Are you going to say that a degree from a place like Boise State isn't more valuable now that it was in the 90's?

If an alum from Boise State moved to Texas and said "hire me, I went to Boise State" don't you think the reaction would be a little different now compared to back then? And that can almost 100% be contributed to the exposure their school has received through athletics.

You are kidding, right? Boise, Georgia State, App State, La Tech... sorry, other then Rice no one cares if your school plays G5 FBS, FCS or D2. In fact, I can find you a number of D3 schools that a hiring manager will jump at over any G5 school, other then Rice, and if you don't know why I pull Rice out, I suggest you look up their national ranking. Academics trump athletics. And most of the P5 are WAY above the G5 academically, other then Rice.

Outside of the P5 leagues no one cares.