Will the big12 payouts in the future get this number down going forward?
My guess right now is probably not much with the way the college football landscape is changing.
Oh if we could get sellouts and increase ticket prices by a good percent, sure.
But this is Houston with a smallish number of season ticket holders.
P4 schools subsidize but at a significantly smaller rate than UH. Faculty and academia are taking notice, and it’s possible to reverse our academic progress beyond the short-term.
For comparison, we could look at schools that joined a P4/AQ conference in the last decade of data. I bolded the school with the largest percentage of revenue from academic funds / combined academic funds and student fees for each year. I also added peer institutions in the Big 12, TTU, and totals for the Big 12 and SEC.
Revenue from academic funds / academic funds + student fees
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 44% / 44% | 32% / 32% | 47% / 47% | 40% / 40% |
| Memphis | 30% / 42% | 35% / 48% | 36% / 51% | 28% / 40% |
| UCF | 16% / 43% | 29% / 55% | 15% / 51% | 35% / 49% |
| UH | 48% / 58% | 51% / 62% | 61% / 74% | 56% / 69% |
| ASU | 8% / 18% | 6% / 16% | 49% / 59% | 5% / 16% |
| ISU | 1% / 0% | 1% / 0% | 2% / 0% | 1% / 0% |
| KU | 0% / 2% | 0% / 2% | 0% / 2% | 0% / 2% |
| TTU | 4% / 0% | 5% / 0% | 13% / 0% | 0% / 0% |
| Big 12 | 1% / 1% | 2% / 2% | 3% / 4% | 0% / 1% |
| SEC | 3% / 4% | 2% / 3% | 3% / 4% | 1% / 2% |
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Great analysis ; appreciate the effort of the work you put into that.
My takeaways and thoughts would be:
1 Yes, UH is subsidizing at the highest level in that group and time frame.
2 Other peers, like TTU have benefited from being at the big boy table for a long time. I think I recall hearing since the SWC breakup, they have enjoyed well over
500 million more in BCS/P5 era money. We
had to do it the hard way.
3 Faculty are always complaining about athletic funding. Few notable excerptions of course,and I myself have wondered if it’s crazy at times.
4 Academically, we have the new $1 billion endowment fund from state coming online, so I’m not worried about athletic funding at the expense of academic funding at this time. But yeah, still want subsidies to decrease.
5 Woudnt be surprised if the CLASS faculty
complain about the new funding that goes to STEM fields. Just the nature of somebody always wanting funding.
This level of subsidization has been pretty typical for the past 15 years of available data. Peers have certainly benefited from BCS/P5 conference distributions and media rights, but that isn’t the only source of revenue where UH is lacking.
The actual benefit from the TUF endowment will be the annual distribution. It is expected that UH will receive $48 million in TUF funds. The athletics department received $48.25 million from academic funds and student fees in fiscal year 2023. It appears the TUF funds will essentially offset the athletic subsidization.
From the data I’ve seen, faculty complaints have merits. Based on public records, the average employee salary at UH is 9.9% lower than other colleges/universities, and earlier this year, Dr. Khator announced there would be no merit-based salary increases for this academic year and a 2% base budget reduction for departments. It makes it that much more difficult to recruit or retain the high-quality faculty that are essential to academic and research goals.
| Academic Funds | Academic + Student Fees | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 48% | 58% |
| 2022 | 51% | 62% |
| 2021 | 61% | 74% |
| 2020 | 56% | 69% |
| 2019 | 53% | 65% |
| 2018 | 41% | 57% |
| 2017 | 31% | 45% |
| 2016 | 34% | 49% |
| 2015 | 42% | 58% |
| 2014 | 35% | 54% |
| 2013 | 44% | 63% |
| 2012 | 46% | 58% |
| 2011 | 46% | 59% |
| 2010 | 38% | 52% |
| 2009 | 49% | 64% |
| 2008 | 42% | 56% |
| 2007 | 12% | 33% |
| 2006 | 15% | 39% |
| 2005 | 39% | 55% |
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Those longer term UH numbers look close to the Cincinnati numbers provided, or at least in the same ball park.
UH will have to pay more to keep top professors. It’s hard for me to digest the average salary numbers across all job levels on a national scale. Especially the “ average employee salary at UH is 9.9% lower than other colleges/universities “
University of Houston - University Park (UH) records show Aaron T Becker held multiple jobs between 2017 and 2023. One of the most recent records in 2023 lists a job of Associate Professor and a pay of $123,707.76. This is 60.2 percent higher than the average pay for co-workers and 72.4 percent higher than the national average for government employees. The highest paying job held by Aaron T Becker was in 2018 as a Assistant Professor making $130,362.52.
But I don’t doubt salaries will need to be increased. There has been other reports of high turnover in teaching assistants due to pay. Doubtful we will ever have top pay across the board across all disciplines. The TA getting $3,000 for a writing class in English seems low. UH will have to pick and choose what disciplines it wants to be among the national leaders in.
Also higher education is going to be hit by a drop in number of students during coming years, so it’s unclear how the lessening demand will impact salaries from a supply/demand perspective.
At this point, I’m okay with the funds being dedicated to athletics. I say that as an alum and as person that donates to both UH athletics and UH academics. It will be interesting to look at the 5 year trends after we start getting Big 12 full share revenue.
I have mixed feelings on the transfer of academic funds and student fees but will continue my donations. UH ranks last in self-generated revenue (including donations) among P4 schools, so we need all we can get.
Based on comments from Pezman, I’m concerned this trend will continue. UH’s partial share of Big 12 revenue is $18 million this year, and the full share is expected to be $40-50 million. However, the revenue sharing plan for players is expected to cost $15-25 million annually. It could result in an effective increase of $7 million on the low end.
At the same time, Pezman intends to increase the athletic budget - that also ranks last among P4 schools - by $25-30 million “as soon as we can.”
Something has to change (let’s hope athletics success) if we no longer want to continue as “one of the most subsidized athletic departments in the nation.”
Agree with a lot you say.
Just want to point out, post Pezman, it has been stated by leaders they want to double the budget.
Good point. I somehow missed that from Nuñez, and it unfortunately only amplifies my concerns.
My concern continues to be the spending spree mentality of our administration.
Making more money is only half the formula for creating sustainability. At some point we’re going to need some cost-cutting to make this work.
Unlike like PUF, TUF monies can’t be used to build campus infrastructure.
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They’re having this same issue at UCLA, right now. The common perspective in Los Angeles is that adjuncts are lecturers and shouldn’t consider themselves professors. By doing so, they’re playing on the lay person’s ignorance and that they should be happy to have a job in academia. While I don’t share that tone, completely, I think that’s the rub of being an academic. You have to earn your stripes to eventually get a full-time gig as a professor.
We walked into the necessary campus upgrades a decade late (outcome of the SWC breakup, but never seeing the risk of the Astrodome ever aging away from usefulness) with the backdrop of NIL coming in and shaking up the entire strategy of running an athletic program. Financially, I believe that we’re kind of set with the next 5 years as a transitional phase where we’re borrowing from Dr. Academics to pay for Mr. Pezman/Nuñez projects. That said, numbers going into University are going down, so I think we’ll start to see a right-sizing of the school. I hope that doesn’t decrease the humanities, but if we find a way to add through subtraction (e.g. high quality, but capped enrollments in certain programs) that could provide a temporary austerity measure. If that means changing the Honors College, that’s where I’d jump into say: let’s pump the brakes because that is the gem of the school. If anything, the HC needs all the support to turn it into a pathway to high paying jobs as much as those in public service, industry, or other professional positions.
Personally, I think UH did a lot of investments to build a moat around the city that would prevent a future University of Texas campus. At a certain point, UH Sugar Land will need to stand on its own legs as a regional school like UHCL, UHD, and UHV have done. I think that will come at a cost of alienating a generation or two of alumni (which UH really can’t afford), but it could potentially supercharge the selectivity of the main campus to an elite level in the model of UT Austin (not necessarily in the same outcome, given the reality of the wealth disparity between both systems/campuses). Perhaps that future investment may lead to a higher end alumni base (higher earnings, etc.), but that’s a huge bet that may only partly materialize given that the middle class is also eroding with potential students going into the trades.
Pulling ~$400MM out of academic budgeting into sports is such a hard pill for me to swallow, but I think there’s been a dark age from 1993-2008 in UH’s Presidential leadership. Specifically, around the goal of capital raising and project funding. Renu is a change maker, compared to a President who used UH as a leap to other ambitions (Jay Gogue) or a cozy job to retire in (Arthur K. Smith). My hope is that the school can generate a resurgence of sports fans through the local populations and high schools. Deliver a product for the whole family, like Michigan developed back in the 1960s and bring in a strong student base that raises the 6-year graduation rate while also using the necessary academic funds to recruit rock star professors that bring out boutique courses. It might be good to even cross-list those like they do at other schools within different departments and under/graduate coursework. Find the rhythm that works and do continuous improvement to better the school academically while capitalizing on the front-door of the athletics.
I know football is king, but I think if UH chould recruit some excellent female olympic athletes, that could increase the credibility of a well-rounded athletic smart student population. We just don’t need to go in the direction of Temple compared to a UCLA.
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Do you think the Honors College has found the right balance with an entering class size of 600+ vs 300+ a decade or more ago? Is there enough scholarship money to fund the program or what’s the greatest need?
$400M deficit funding athletics is astounding but we made it to the next level with higher external support. Hopefully we can cut student service fees in the future. Does TTU charge students to attend games like A&M does (~$400 per year)? Maybe it takes time to charge that much.
SMU heavily funds its athletics with fees and gives free admission. Now alumni are stepping in with NIL and significant facilities upgrades. Probably not enough to reduce student fees that aren’t line item detailed.
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Honestly, I don’t know. If you think about it, the Honors College is UH’s version of Rice. I barely got in and decided not to do it. Knowing what I know now, I’m pretty sure that’s the program that would have kept me at UH instead of transferring to A&M. I needed that community of nerds and I had a hard time finding that group of like minded people.
At Rice, each residential college is about 300. Perhaps that’s the sweet spot and UH could begin to build “houses” within the Honors College. Copying is the best form of flattery and I think that could build camaraderie within an already large campus.
I think UH could easily find some wealthy philanthropists who would throw money at the Honors College. Providing naming to a “house” structure and build long term professorships. It’s a commendable program based partially on the Great Books plan that Chicago developed.
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Found a document that describes all the nomenclature for UH endowments and minimum funding levels for different types of endowments one may be interested in creating.
Endowment establishment and maintenance
Thought it interesting at how much more is required to fund a chair, professorship,etc at UH vs other UHS institutions.
FY Q4 2024 financials posted. Looks like about $46 million improvement in endowment over last quarter to $1,161,000,000.
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Still waiting for that $1 billion+ in additional endowment we were promised.
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It’ll take a lot of years for that to be recognized. We’ll get it in yearly payments, but it’ll go to the management company. I believe it’ll be on UH to consolidate that reporting into its financials.
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The delay is odd. TTU just reported their FY Q4 2024 endowment at $3.059 billion.
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