Blog Post 3
Brandon McNeal
Professor Jenkins
Intro to Government and Politics
4/13/22
Blog Post 3
As you would recall, in the first blog post I talked the overall problem of money being a major problem in division III nationwide. There are only a few division III colleges in the United States that have comfortable funds. In the second blog post, I talked about how the scenery and the college experience of a small school division III student can be the same or even better than a large, well-known, state school student’s experience. With that said, since money is not that common in division III schools, in order to accomplish that goal, the school must be creative. Which leads to problem #3: there is not enough money, time, or effort that is put into the commitment of making Division III sports the best experience possible in the top-level of each college. Like I said before, money is hard to come by in division III, and it is rare for a Division-III school to have plenty of money. The D-III colleges that have plenty of money are established universities that thrive in if not all their sports, most of them. There are even less colleges that distribute much money to their own sport programs, because they deem it as not essential and look passed it.
They really should care about care about sports much more, because sports, especially the more popular ones, (Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track, and Soccer), will drive in a lot more money. They would rather put their money towards academics, theater, or something everyone on campus can enjoy. I think this is a huge misconception not only in division-III sports but every college in America that is known for having highly respected academics. According GMTM, “Game time”, says that most division III colleges are private liberal arts institutions, or they at least offer programs with an emphasis on arts and sciences. Why is this important? This is important, because this means that not only is specific arts and sciences emphasized, but academics is why students attend those schools.
When attending a prestigious institution like Birmingham-Southern College, it is understood that they are well-known for their Liberal arts education. A school like BSC also allows and offers massive opportunities later in life after graduation. Birmingham Southern is so highly respected in the workplace, because it is a liberal arts college. With that, liberal arts schools are so highly respected, because employers understand what it takes to not only earn a diploma at one of those prestigious colleges but to also thrive there. They understand that most students at these colleges usually play a sport, there are massive workloads, and the classes are simply overall more difficult than a state school, such as Alabama, Ole Miss, or even Auburn. These colleges aren’t as highly respected as Ivy league schools, but they are certainly close. They are much more respected than the state schools, even some would say liberal arts colleges are more respected by employers than the Vanderbilts and the Dukes of the world.
With all that being said, that is great. It is great for a school to be respected in their academics and that it later opens jobs post-graduation. Although, back to the problem, there is no funding given to the sports. Part of the problem is the budget can be strict due to not having as much money as the University of Alabama or Auburn University. Therefore, knowing that the budget will not be as free flowing as the state schools are, there should be boundaries. I am not saying that all the money should not be given to the sports programs, because like I said before the academics plays a gigantic role at every school. At the same time, there should be a balance between the two. I feel that all of the sports don’t give the love they deserve at a smaller college, because it’s almost like the institution spends all the money on what they feel is necessary, then they use all the “leftover” money. I felt is was especially bad during the pandemic. The funds were down at it showed and the amount of gear we were able to receive that year. Then, when a team wins, or the college has extra money for whatever reason, they’ll get one big treat, such as some sort of renovation. Following the treat, its back to the usual ways of the sad truth of a constricting budget at the Division-III level.
With the main complaint of poor budgeting for sports at the D-III level established, what are some ways we could fix this? Well, in my eyes the best ways to fix this would be generate more money somehow. This goes back to blog post 1, we could lower tuition and go that route, or keep everything the way it is and generate money through donations and or fundraisers. We do fundraisers on the football team, and the one we did this year was a huge success. Odds are the school isn’t going to change how they runs things. Therefore, the best way would through the old-fashion way of donations and fundraisers. There are plenty of wealthy, prideful, Birmingham-Southern alumni that I have seen and talked to. I feel like if we would push for a better effort in each sport or as a whole college, we could get some legit funds through donations and fundraisers.