<p>If you’re upset that sports programs are costing schools too much money, then you should be against Title IX - which forced schools to fund expensive women’s sports that few people want to watch and are complete money drains. = mom</p>
<p>Well, all sports are money drains. In fact,it would surprise most people to know that even schools with high attendance at football and basketball games lose money with regularity on sports. </p>
<p>The problem is a matter of degree. And its a matter of relevance to the cost of attending college, which is why I went on my rant. In the days of much lower tuition at private colleges and very low tuition and room and board at state schools, the sports problem wasnt as significant. Now, as tuition is going through the roof and becoming truly unattainable by most families, its not just an eyesore for accountants, its an obscenity to those of us in the middle class forced to pay these outrageous fees. </p>
<p>I am pro sports programs to a degree. But what are we to do as we see tuition and room and board rising and scholarships/financial aid doled out very very unevenly with preferences that seem discriminatory? </p>
<p>In a perfect world, it seems to me, all financial aid and all scholarships would be need based, and it would be evenly distributed and race/gender “blind” (well, the absence of preferences). Or some other methodology that was more objective and fair, rather than subjective, secretive and preferential. We do not live in a perfect world so we have to deal with the problem of cost, not unlike airplane tickets where the guy next to you in 21A might pay 99.00 for his ticket, you paid 298.00 and the business manager who bought a last minute ticket paid 849.00…all going to the same destination.</p>
<p>I dont know many people who have 200k stuffed in an education savings account for one kid, let alone 2 or 3. The cost of going to a state flagship is about 15k on a good day, with tuition and room/board and fees. We do all make choices and have to live with the consequences. But our educational system is becoming elitist and which favors athletes and the very wealthy, while the middle class gets squeezed. Not going to college is not an option, as you well know. Who wants their kid at a community college, particularly only because of cost concerns? Not me. </p>
<p>For those families lucky enough to have a Title IX student who was qualified to compete at the inter-collegiate level, I offer my congratulations. But most women’s sports coaches arent making much money. But multi million dollar contracts for male coaches in football and basketball are very common in Division 1-A. </p>
<p>Do you have a better answer to this vexing and disturbing trend/problem?</p>