Many student-athletes pay an ancillary fee for joining a team, which covers their uniforms, equipment and travelling expenses. But sometimes they have to pay out of pocket for food when out of town for a game. Photo by Sean Cann-Sheppard, QNet News
By Sean Cann-Sheppard [1]
BELLEVILLE — With the Loyalist Lancers [2] teams already off to a great start this year, many are asking if they can compete with the other big teams in the Ontario College Athletics Association [3] off the court.
It’s not just an issue of skill, but one of funding as well.
Compared to other schools in the OCAA, especially those in the Greater Toronto Area whose budget can be in the millions of dollars, Loyalist spends significantly less on its athletics program. According to Loyalist’s Business Plan for 2016-17 [4], the school planned to allocate nearly half a million dollars to the athletics program for the year.
However, due to lower enrolment this year, Loyalist athletics director Jim Buck said the total budget for the athletics program will be significantly lower than expected.
“Knowing that enrolment is down, it means it’s going to be challenging going forward,” Buck said.
The reason for this concern comes from the fixed athletics fee that students pay as part of their tuition. Each student pays $70 per semester, and that helps to cover the athletics program, including the Lancers.
“That would cover their travel to games, their hotel fees, league fees, salaries for our coaches and paying for referees,” Buck said.
Lower enrolment means a decrease in the total amount earned each semester, and thus a smaller budget.
The majority of the Lancers’ budget goes into travel expenses, along with paying for equipment and supplies. It also covers food – though at times, when the teams are out of town for a game, the athletes have to pay out of their own pocket for a bite to eat.
Sara Piana Yafu, one of the senior players for the Loyalist women’s volleyball team, said that for the most part she and her team get lunch bags from the cafeteria before heading to a game. Once they get to their destination, they’re often on their own for food, she said.
“We travel a lot, and once in a while we have to go out for a place to eat,” Yafu said.
To help with this, many of the teams run fundraising programs such as Adopt-a-Lancer. Donations to team members through private sponsors in that campaign bring in about $200 for each person, Yafu said.
Each athlete also pays an ancillary fee to cover uniforms and to help bolster the overall budget for the teams.
Every student pays a fixed athletics fee as part of their tuition. This fee goes toward the athletics program, including the Lancers. As Loyalist is experiencing low enrolment this year, this poses a challenge for the Lancers’ funding. Photo by Sean Cann-Sheppard, QNet News
Despite this, it still comes down to total enrolment to fund an entire year’s worth of games and training. Buck said it’s difficult when competing with bigger colleges – such as Humber, which has more than 80,000 students.
“Even if (Humber students) paid less of a fee, (the college) would still have a lot more dollars,” Buck said.
Buck said that colleges like Humber also have the advantage of getting additional revenue from renting out their sports facilities to local high schools and other organizations.
“It’s definitely unbalanced,” he added.
So what can Loyalist College do to help with costs down the road? Buck said one of the possibilities being discussed is local sponsorships for projects like new scoreboards or seating.
“I think it’s certainly something to consider down the line,” he said. “Things like a new scoreboard for the field could be covered by a sponsor.”
His optimism about new infrastructure is shared by Yafu.
“We should rebuild the whole sports facility,” she said. “We should have a new gym and new playing field.”
She feels confident that things will turn out well for the Lancers as they continue through the semester, she said.
“We have a good environment here,” she said. She added that they’ve always been supported by their coaches and faculty, no matter the difficulty.