Advertisement Students pay for college sports -- whether they want to or not KCRA 3 Investigates: Paying to Play Part 1 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

On any given game day, as players hit the gridiron, hardwood, water or any field on either Sacramento State's or UC Davis' campus, there are students who support or are part of the athletics department."Coming here is fantastic," cross-country runner Michael Wheeler said in front of the UC Davis athletics center. "I got a really good deal. It's a great academic school, but I'm also able to run, and I wasn't going to be able to run many other places. But, I'm really happy to be on the team here."There are other students, though, who walk the campus with no interest in sports -- students like Eden Knight."It didn't influence me," Knight told KCRA 3 between classes. "But, I know it did influence a lot of people."Students like Wheeler and Knight pay thousands a year in fees. Everything from bus service to financial aid to sports get money from student fees. Those same students might never use the facilities or even play those sports, but they are paying for them anyway, whether they know it or not.KCRA 3 Investigates asked for the financial reports sent from the NCAA for both Sacramento State and UC Davis. What they show is that both athletics departments are relying heavily on student fees. PHNjcmlwdCBpZD0iaW5mb2dyYW1fMF85MDI2NzQyNy0yMzU0LTQyOGUtYjMxMy01NzY1ZGFlMTY1NDUiIHRpdGxlPSJTcG9ydHMgUmV2ZW51ZSBTYWMgU3RhdGUgYW5kIFVDRCIgc3JjPSJodHRwczovL2UuaW5mb2dyYW0uY29tL2pzL2Rpc3QvZW1iZWQuanM/aU5hIiB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==UC Davis Athletic Director Kevin Blue said those numbers are not unusual."The general trend in at the FCS level Division I is for athletics operations to generate about 25 percent of their operating budget through their own operations," he explained. "The other three-quarters are to be allocated in some way from a variety of sources."Sacramento State's athletic director, Mark Orr, said their numbers are far lower."My understanding, at least the most recent data I reviewed, $145 is the lowest (student fee) in the state of California among our Division I peer institutions," he said.Still, Orr admits that even Sac State's low fees are a lot for some students to take, particularly with student debt at record levels.Both schools see this as the cost of doing business. However, not everyone sees it that way."Some say it's the front porch to the university," said Fritz Polite, of Shenendoah University in Virginia. Polite is a consultant to the NCAA and the NFL on college athletics and recruiting. "You know, if you're on ESPN every other week, that might be the case, but that's not really what academic institutions should be about. They really should be about the academic, educational aspect rather than the entertainment piece."Polite said students already spend far too much money on college and that the athletics departments simply need to do a better job budgeting. They also, he said, need to let students know exactly what they are paying."It's not a transparent process," Polite said. "There are some schools that give students the option, but very few. They just wrap it in their fine print, and the next thing you know, they're paying these additional fees to support some activities that they may not even use."PHNjcmlwdCBpZD0iaW5mb2dyYW1fMF9iM2I4NjY1Yi00NzBmLTRlZWEtYmFmZS1kYmY1NDU5MzJiMmQiIHRpdGxlPSJTdHVkZW50IEZlZXMgdnMuIEluc3RpdHV0aW9uYWwgU3VwcG9ydCIgc3JjPSJodHRwczovL2UuaW5mb2dyYW0uY29tL2pzL2Rpc3QvZW1iZWQuanM/RWRMIiB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==UC Davis does allow students to vote on whether or not the school should increase those fees. The students KCRA spoke with said they didn't know they were paying as much as they were. Yet, it didn't surprise them."You do want UC Davis to be a well-known school," Knight said. "I think people in America are die-hard fans of sports, and it is kind of the cost of it."Still, as schools get more and more attention for winning games, particularly at bigger and bigger schools with TV contracts, the idea that sports departments are big money-makers will continue. However, students continue to bolster the athletics budgets with higher and higher fees.