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<p>Here are the 84 colleges. I’m not sure what sort of game you are playing by bringing up red herrings of Lutheran bible colleges I have never mentioned, much less claimed to be public.</p>
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University of California-Santa Cruz
Eastern Connecticut State University
Purdue University-Calumet Campus
University of Maine at Farmington
University of Maine at Presque Isle
University of Southern Maine
St Mary's College of Maryland
University of Massachusetts-Boston
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Salem State University
Keene State College
New Jersey City University
Ramapo College of New Jersey
Rutgers University-Camden
Rutgers University-Newark
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
CUNY Brooklyn College
CUNY College of Staten Island
CUNY City College
CUNY Hunter College
CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
CUNY Lehman College
CUNY Medgar Evers College
CUNY York College
SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill
Farmingdale State College
SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome
SUNY at Fredonia
SUNY at Geneseo
State University of New York at New Paltz
SUNY College at Oneonta
SUNY College at Oswego
SUNY College at Potsdam
SUNY at Purchase College
SUNY College at Old Westbury
SUNY College at Plattsburgh
SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Schuylkill
University of Pittsburgh-Bradford
University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg
Rhode Island College
The University of Texas at Dallas
The University of Texas at Tyler
Johnson State College
Lyndon State College
University of Mary Washington
University of Wisconsin-Superior
Maine Maritime Academy
Frostburg State University
Salisbury University
Bridgewater State University
Fitchburg State University
Framingham State University
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Westfield State University
Worcester State University
University of Minnesota-Morris
Plymouth State University
Rowan University
Kean University
Montclair State University
The College of New Jersey
William Paterson University of New Jersey
Morrisville State College
SUNY College at Brockport
SUNY College at Buffalo
SUNY College at Cortland
SUNY Maritime College
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Castleton State College
Christopher Newport University
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
University of Wisconsin-Stout
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
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<p>By my calculation, 84 colleges out of 442 gives slightly more than 19% of Division-III colleges that are public and therefore use public funding to subsidize their athletic programs. </p>
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<p>You seem to have gotten very confused. The only reason D-III is part of the discussion is because you brought it up. You made a blanket endorsement of all D-III athletic spending, which you characterized as “expensive” and at the “extreme” end of the subsidy scale. This broad endorsement must logically include spending public funds to subsidize athletic programs of the public D-III colleges. But now you seem uncertain as to whether you meant to endorse D-III athletic spending or merely to pronounce yourself unqualified to judge it.</p>
<p>The largest “expensive” D-III athletics program costs between $12-13M, and as I have pointed out there are 55 Division-I public programs where the subsidy exceeds this threshold. I made the assumption that these 55 programs in Division-I must logically be considered “expensive” as well. I pointed out several by name that I thought were particularly egregious. By my calculation, 55 out of 227 is slightly more than 24% of Division-I colleges that have publicly funded subsidies above this threshold of “expensive”. In addition, only 7 out of 227 receive absolutely no subsidy, so that makes 97% that are using public funds to subsidize the athletic programs. </p>
<p>I think the use of public funds to subsidize athletic programs is an important issue to consider, and should be treated with some level of careful consideration, as with all expenditures of public funds. I doubt that the arbitrary threshold mentioned above is the right one to choose for which programs to scrutinize, and in fact I selected it only for the purpose of getting out of the Div-III realm and back to Div-I programs that are more relevant to the discussion. There is certainly a point at which public subsidies for athletic programs delve into irresponsibility, such as the aforementioned UNLV program.</p>
<p>And really, I find the accusation of “wildly misleading and irresponsible sweeping statements about the nature of college athletic spending” humorous rather than threatening. Perhaps it’s best to chalk it up to a tendency towards hyperbole, such as the 19% = “quite rare” example.</p>