A segment on the news tonight outlined the costs of college athletic recruiting; meals, travel expenses, even private airplanes and helicopters, to impress and lure the dazzled young high school seniors.
Thousands of dollars, on neatly displayed spreadsheets, compared the budgets of various schools and conferences. What, exactly, was their point? That some schools are more committed than others to drawing the best? That expenditures are proportional to results? That the entire system is out of it's mind?
I was too horrified to listen closely to the point they were trying to make. Even my husband's suggestion, that maybe the numbers included the scholarships for the athletes wasn't much of a comfort.
Just where did all this money come from?
Unfortunately, I think I know.
Where was the follow-up story on the explosive growth of college tuition?
What about the one on the back breaking debt of the students who went to college for an education; the ones who weren't offered million dollar professional contracts when they graduated from school?
Sports programs generate income too. I get that.
Sports done right can teach team work, commitment, and responsibility. Those are excellent and worthy goals.
But, I can't help wondering, as my children scrabble to get started on their lives, as they scrounge for groceries and rent after siphoning most of their check to the student loan companies, just what is all that money really paying for?
