Recently, SNHU announced a lower tuition rate for all incoming students. Which begs the question, how this will affect the athletics department? The department spends a million dollars every year on equipment, maintenance and scholarships.
Anthoney Fallacaro, the Athletic Director, when asked how the athletic department will be affected said, “We normally have around 65 scholarships that we break up amongst 450 athletes. We are going to do that same ratio for the scholarships. So really dollars have been reduced but they’ve been reduced at the same percentage.” In short, they will have the same number of scholarships but each will have a lesser value.
The change in tuition has removed merit scholarships, otherwise known as academic aid for every student. This means that athletic scholarships will now be based on athletes’ abilities rather than the current system of both academics and athletic qualifications.
“When they did the analysis, what we realized is that if we were to take athletic scholarships away, we would end up spending not as much, but a lot of it, on need-based scholarships, and in fact, our [athletic] scholarship program helps us have a more diverse student body. So we have more students of color as a result,” stated SNHU President, Paul LeBlanc. Essentially, keeping the athletic scholarships is cost-effective and supports more diversity.
The cost of schooling is largely placed on the athletes since there are very few full athletic grants, therefore the tuition change makes the overall cost of school lower for both athletes and non-athletes.
Athletes will receive lower scholarships but with lower tuition therefore not requiring a greater cost, Fallacaro explained.
“Almost none of the 80,000 student-athletes competing in Division II this year will receive a full athletics grant that covers all of their expenses, but most of them will receive some financial aid to help them through school,” according to Penmen Athletics on Division II sports.
The change in tuition is slated to open up new opportunities for athletes who might not have been able to pay SNHU’s prior tuition and should make SNHU’s financial packages more appealing to those with offers from multiple schools.
“Our coaches can now go out into a bigger scope of students to look at because they can now afford it…where some couldn’t,” Fallacaro continues. Students will be able to come to SNHU with lower loans and easily compare that to other school offers to not only find the best fit, but also the best price.
Even with the sudden price drop, SNHU’s Athletics Department is committed to maintaining the current facilities at the same level they always have been at, according to Fallacaro.
The tuition cut is allowing SNHU to not only reduce the overall cost of education, but it will also allow athletes to continue to play their desired sports.
