|
Post by sneakers on May 18, 2015 14:56:51 GMT -5
... there is no doubt SBU has a basketball identity that the alumni love and if D1 basketball was lost the alumni support would likely deteriorate. Alumni pride is SBU's biggest asset. I believe this bears repeating and remembering. I hate to throw cold water on this statement, as I believe it is true. Alumni pride is great and it is much more powerful at Bonas than most universities, however, alumni pride does not keep the lights on. Bonas needs to translate that alumni pride into monetary donations or our D-1 sports program is in jeopardy. How does a school with 1,800 kids afford to be D1? It is only with the active participation and financial support from alums, locals and other friends of the university. Sad, but true. We need to find more donors and we need to have our current donors be more generous. I am hopeful that TK (our new AD) will help in this endeavor. But frankly, it is up to the type of people who participate on this Board as to whether he will be successful. Rabid fans need to understand what it takes to field a D-1 program these days before it is too late. If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. www.bonniesbaf.com/landing/index
|
|
|
Post by Pinnum on May 18, 2015 15:12:39 GMT -5
I believe this bears repeating and remembering. I hate to throw cold water on this statement, as I believe it is true. Alumni pride is great and it is much more powerful at Bonas than most universities, however, alumni pride does not keep the lights on. Bonas needs to translate that alumni pride into monetary donations or our D-1 sports program is in jeopardy. How does a school with 1,800 kids afford to be D1? It is only with the active participation and financial support from alums, locals and other friends of the university. Sad, but true. We need to find more donors and we need to have our current donors be more generous. I am hopeful that TK (our new AD) will help in this endeavor. But frankly, it is up to the type of people who participate on this Board as to whether he will be successful. Rabid fans need to understand what it takes to field a D-1 program these days before it is too late. If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. www.bonniesbaf.com/landing/indexThose two things are not exclusive. I think everyone knows that they need to be supporting the school and athletics if they want them to survive. (Which is why I am a big fan of the Buffalo and Rochester home games) My point is that many academically focused people often see removing athletic funding as a panacea for financial issues when in reality it can be a way to quickly alienate alumni and see an even less financial support. I do know people that give to scholarship funds and champion the school who would never give to the athletic fund but would immediately pull their support from the school as a whole if the athletic department was cut (or moved D3). This is because they remember the good times in the RC and believe it is a central part of the campus but they believe their support of academics is most important.
|
|
|
Post by derhut on May 18, 2015 15:20:52 GMT -5
would be interesting to see the levels of giving $$ by say, grads 1960-1965, 1966-1970, 1971-1975, etc. A correlation between successful hoops teams/good times, etc and donating ? Take the grad years of 1968-1977..undefeated regular season squad, ncaa final four, nit championship, taking nyc by storm..is that segment of sbu grads bigger donors than others ? Even at an "academic powerhouse" such as northwestern, an appearance in the rose bowl led to increased applications for admission and a large increase in donations by alums.
|
|
|
Post by class70 on May 18, 2015 15:45:30 GMT -5
would be interesting to see the levels of giving $$ by say, grads 1960-1965, 1966-1970, 1971-1975, etc. A correlation between successful hoops teams/good times, etc and donating ? Take the grad years of 1968-1977..undefeated regular season squad, ncaa final four, nit championship, taking nyc by storm..is that segment of sbu grads bigger donors than others ? Even at an "academic powerhouse" such as northwestern, an appearance in the rose bowl led to increased applications for admission and a large increase in donations by alums. Sadly, my Class of 1970 is one of the least bountiful sources of money for the university. We're having our 45th anniversary donation drive and the response is weak as it is almost every year, only $22,000+ so far from the entire class.
|
|
|
Post by sbu79 on May 18, 2015 16:22:25 GMT -5
I believe this bears repeating and remembering. I hate to throw cold water on this statement, as I believe it is true. Alumni pride is great and it is much more powerful at Bonas than most universities, however, alumni pride does not keep the lights on. Bonas needs to translate that alumni pride into monetary donations or our D-1 sports program is in jeopardy. How does a school with 1,800 kids afford to be D1? It is only with the active participation and financial support from alums, locals and other friends of the university. Sad, but true. We need to find more donors and we need to have our current donors be more generous. I am hopeful that TK (our new AD) will help in this endeavor. But frankly, it is up to the type of people who participate on this Board as to whether he will be successful. Rabid fans need to understand what it takes to field a D-1 program these days before it is too late. If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. www.bonniesbaf.com/landing/indexI didn't really think about this as much when I first quoted it as I have over the last few hours as I've gone about the other things in my life that keep me out of the bars in the daytime. The truth of the statement goes in both directions. It is the pride of alumni that is a strength of the university, and that pride is certainly sustained by the Bonnies, but also the pride of alumni has to be the basis for tapping into more financial support. It was mentioned a few years back in a rather derisive way that Bona turns out middle managers - not the senior executive and self made "whales" that can drop multi-millions at a time in donations. To the degree that is true, we all need to pitch in to the greatest measure we can. Only through the strength of alumni that take pride in the University will we be successful. And thanks to those "whales" that have given outsized gifts over the years.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 16:50:27 GMT -5
Money is always going to be an issue at a school the size of SBU. To think that downsizing athletics is a solution is shortsighted. I don't think the philosophy department would be the people I would go to for economic analysis. Maybe if Sport, Gan, and Nash are playing the Barclays they would have some more credibility.
|
|
|
Post by Saulius Dumbliauskas on May 20, 2015 7:42:50 GMT -5
D-1 Sports was my deciding factor to attend Bonas. I think this holds true for a lot of prospective students.
|
|
|
Post by firstdev on May 21, 2015 16:29:05 GMT -5
Yes, D1 Sports are expensive but they are indeed an entre' to prospective students, a huge plus, and a generator of incredible publicity for the university. The exposure on NBCSN (time we could never afford to purchase)is extremely positive, and enables the university to reach a nationwide audience with a message of our choosing (the message over the last two years has really been outstanding, especially the commercial which states "this is where we gather.....very touching, and actually brought tears to my eyes when I first watched it..). In addition Professor Gan, who I deeply respect, does not take into consideration the amount of revenue generated by the Athletic department, which greatly assists in offsetting a majority of the D1 costs. Revenues such as season and individual tickets sales, donations from corporations and businesses, donations to the BAF by generous alumni and friends, revenue from the A10 conference from the NCAA, sales of team merchandise, and concession sales at the games, etc. D1 Athletics has huge advantages for us over D2 or D3 programs. Stay the course.
|
|
|
Post by derhut on May 22, 2015 8:10:03 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by sony on May 22, 2015 12:55:46 GMT -5
Where"s SBU?
|
|
|
Post by gdub2009 on May 22, 2015 13:38:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by class70 on May 22, 2015 14:44:28 GMT -5
I suppose #581 is about as high as a self-respecting mendicant order should want it.
|
|
|
Post by nyc02 on May 22, 2015 17:52:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by tastylicks on May 22, 2015 18:05:34 GMT -5
Can someone give me, a dumb novice to the workings of academic institutions, a quick/brief rundown on how endowments work? I am referring to the stats derhut posted. I understand its "the coffers" but I don't get it very much.
How can a public school like The University of Texas, for example, justify charging around $11K annual tuition, probably around $20-$25k with room & board to IN-State Texan students... with a $25 BILLION endowment!?!?
|
|
|
Post by sony on May 22, 2015 19:38:09 GMT -5
I couldn't find us 'cause, for some reason I thought we were around $25 million! Very surprised by SBU's endowment @ $60 million! Some in the fed govt asking the same question - how come the cost of college is skyrocketing when schools are sitting on $$$$? The wealthier schools are self perpetuating because if they want a student - for whatever reason, they'll give that student a ride.
|
|