Oh god it's 1:30 am why am I doing this?
Because this stuff is important, y'all. In the midst of grandeur and winning and cute cheerleaders, we forget that athletics ultimately serves to advance the university and its community. I'm scouring through this year's UT System Regents meeting (which was hosted at UTSA) and it's gleefully apparent how much of a huge success UTSA football was for the university, fiscally.
First off, UTSA blew its cohorts out of the water in cash reception increase. We're in the midst of one of the nastiest recessions in our country's history, yet UTSA still managed to increase its cash giving by 148.1%. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT PERCENT. The runner up in cash giving increase was UT Arlington, who harvests money from having natural gas deposits located under their campus. A major factor in UTSA's sky-rocket upswing was that a healthy portion of football season ticket money was accrued as a donation to the Roadrunner Athletics Fund, a savvy move for both UTSA Athletics as well as season ticket holders who can write the majority of their season ticket package off as a tax deduction.
Ever get a 253% pay raise? UTSA Athletics just did. The department had budgeted $750,000 in revenue from season and gate ticket sales but thanks to folks like you, the actual number fell closer to $1,900,000. For a real-world athletics comparison, UTSA went from having Cleveland Indian payroll numbers to New York Yankees cash. Let's use that to market our basketball program, shall we?
In also exciting but much more dull news, UTSA will again be raising admission standards to combat a rapidly swelling number of applicants. This is part of a long-term plan to make UTSA a more selective university, and ultimately, a tier-one institution. UTSA will continue to automatically accept the top 25% of high school classes, while toughening up access to lower ranking high school students. Students in the second 25% of their class will face an increased minimum SAT score of 1100 (as opposed to 960) while the minimum ACT score jumped from 20 to 24. For comparison's sake, this will put UTSA at ten points below SAT standards at Texas State but two ACT points above the Bobcats. Not sure why, but admission standards for the lower 50% of students remains the same (Individually reveiwed, recommended minimums of 1000/1100 SAT and 24 ACT). UTSA will also be harder to access for transfer students, who must now maintain a 2.25 GPA as opposed to a 2.0.
Lastly, UTSA got some great news from the BOR who approved an increase in construction budget for new classrooms, labs, and office space. The new five story building will be named the Administrative Office Building (unique, trendy, edgy, I like it) and will also host the interdisciplinary cybersecurity program, the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, as well as other similar resources for COB and COS students. As an IA student, I'm quite pissed that this center won't be finished until after I graduate. I'm sure it will look like a Pentagon command center. The aim of this building is not only to decrease classroom crowding, but also to allow UTSA to stop sub-leasing office space off campus at Shavano Park and in that office park off Hausman across from the FBI complex. This move will save the University $1,600,00 per year in rent expenses.
Take some time out of your day to peruse the agenda from the meeting. Like I said, this stuff really does matter.
